The Lion King: Kopa's Pride
by TiggerCat9
Summary: Being King of the Pride Lands, a lot more is expected of Kopa now. As usual danger isn't far off as a new pride threatens to take over the land. But could his children hold the key to ensuring peace and balance between the two prides?
1. Chapter 1

**The Lion King: Kopa's Pride  
Chapter 1 **

It was a joyous day in the Pride Lands. Every creature that lived there was assembling under Pride Rock for the presentation of the newborn son of Princess Kiara and Kovu. Kopa, now King of the Pride Lands was waiting for Rafiki to show up atop the stand. While he was waiting he felt small paws run along his back and he looked round to see his four month old son Leo standing on top of him.

"Wow." he said and he climbed onto the top of Kopa's head. "So this is what happens when a new cub is born. There's so many animals." he said.

"Yes, it was just like that for you and your sister Leo." Kopa said. "Speaking of which do you know where your sister is?" he asked, since he doesn't recall seeing his daughter since last night.

"Oh yeah Shani told me she was going to go meet uncle Tojo's birds, Eupe and Sura this morning." he said.

Kopa rolled his eyes and groaned. "I wish she'd tell me before she decides to sneak off. Today's an important day and I wanted her here." he said.

"Don't worry dad she promised she'd be back in time for the presentation." Leo said and he leapt off of Kopa and onto the ground below. Leo was a smart cub for his age and his fur was the same golden colour as Kopa's. No small mane had begun to show yet but Leo was confident it shouldn't be too long.

"Well, well, well if it isn't my boy Leo." they heard the familiar voice of Timon say. Leo and Kopa turned around to see Timon and Pumbaa standing behind them. Leo ran over, straight away with a grin on his face.

"I was wondering when you two would show up." Kopa said.

" Please as if we would miss something as important as this." Timon said.

"So hows Kiara?" asked Pumbaa.

"She's fine. You'll be delighted to here it's a boy Timon." Kopa informed, waiting for the meerkats reaction.

"It's another boy?" he questioned and he turned to Leo. "Leo is this true?" he asked.

"Yep, he's called Amri. I helped auntie Kiara chose it." Leo informed him, looking rather proud.

Timon soon jumped up and down with excitement. He climbed atop of Pumbaa and sat in his customary position.

"I don't believe it buddy, another boy. We are so lucky. All things we're gonna have to teach him, I swear it's going to be great." he said and he dreamily collapsed back on Pumbaa.

"Glad to see we're making this day about you two." said the soft voice of Nala as she came towards them.

"Hey don't be sarcastic with me!" Timon shot back and they all laughed.

"Hey grandma." Leo said, walking over towards Nala and stopping at her feet. "I was just telling Timon and Pumbaa that I helped name Amri."

"Oh yes and what a lovely name it is too." she said. She then turned to Kopa and asked, "Has Rafiki turned up yet?"

"No not yet but you know Rafiki, he'll turn up." Kopa said.

Soon after, none other than Kopa's daughter Shani, bundled up the entrance to Pride Rock, with the bluebirds Sura and Eupe, not far behind her.

"Don't worry Shani, Eupe and I will teach you anything you want to know, won't we Eupe?" Sura asked, turning to her sister.

"Of course." Eupe said, in her cute little voice.

"Thanks. I'll tell you what maybe tomorrow-" Shani begun but Kopa cut her off.

"Shani," he said, calling her over.

"Oh well I'll see you guys tomorrow." she said and Eupe and Sura said goodbye before flying off. "Hey dad." Shani said walking over to Kopa. Shani had a fur colour that was similar to Kiara's and patch of scruffy fur at the top of head, which she got from Vitani.

"Shani I don't mind you going off with Eupe and Sura but please next time tell me where you're going." he said. "Do I have to tell you what could happen again, you could-"

"Get lost, bump into a stranger or get hurt yeah dad I know." Shani said cutting over him. "But I'm back in time for the presentation." she said, with a smile before walking off.

"You know you're just like your father was when Kiara was young." Nala said with a laugh. "Shani's a girl and sometimes you just need to let them have a little freedom." she advised.

"Please mum I get enough of that from Vitani." he said. It was at that moment that Rafiki finally appeared, carrying his customary stick.

"It's about time Rafiki." Kopa said, going over to greet him.

"Well look at you Kopa, you've become king, a father and an uncle all in the space of eight months." Rafiki said, patting Kopa on the back. "Now where is Kiara?" he asked and Kopa lead him to the den where Kiara was sitting, her newborn son in her arms. Kovu was sat beside her, both admiring their son.

"Hey Rafiki's here." Kopa said, drawing the attention of all that were in the den. "Congratulations Kiara." Kopa said to his sister and Kiara silently thanked him. "Oh you too Kovu." Kopa said, with a smirk.

Surprisingly, Kopa and Kovu get along now, even though they still have some sort of rivalry toward each other. Simba's passing had prompted the two to work on their relationship because, after all the pride needed both of them to get along.

Rafiki walked over and Kiara lifted her paws to reveal a tiny, brown-furred cub lying there. Rafiki proceeded to his usual before Amri's presentation but just before they went to go and present him, both Leo and Shani came over to get a good look at their cousin.

"He's so small." Shani commented and Kiara giggled a little.

"Well he's only young but don't worry he'll be as big as you soon." she said. Leo lifted his paw and touched Amri lightly on his head. Amri then placed his paw on Leo's leg and giggled.

"He's cute." Leo laughed and all the adult lions smiled. Rafiki then gather Amri up in his arms, ready to present him to the rest of the kingdom. Kiara and Kovu followed behind him first then Kopa and Nala, along with Leo and Shani.

Kopa was slightly worried though. Vitani had gone out on an early morning patrol this morning and she hasn't arrived back yet. Still he focused his attention on Amri's presentation and once Rafiki lifted him into the air, all the animals below let out their own form of joy and excitement.

While this was going on Kopa noticed Vitani run up pride rock, looking rather frantic. Kopa gave a sigh of relief to see she was ok and went over to her.

"Tani, what took you so long?" he asked and he realised Vitani was extremely frantic as she was panting rapidly. "Tani what's wrong?" he asked, because he didn't need to be a genius to know something wasn't right.

"Kopa we have a huge problem..."

* * *

As Amri slowly opened his eyes he saw that it was still dark outside. Still, he was wide awake now and carefully stood up, being careful not to wake his mother and father up in the process. He jumped over the sleeping lionesses and ran out onto the Pride Rock stand. He grinned when he slowly the saw the sun beginning to rise.

But he wasn't the only one awake.

"Hey Amri, what are you doing?" Leo asked as he soon sat down beside Amri.

"Just watching the sunrise. I can't wait until it's morning." Amri said, excitedly.

"Why?" Leo asked.

"Well mum and dad said they're going to let me go out today, away from here." he explained.

"That's great, I can show you all these cool places I've found." Leo said.

"Leo, the places you go to aren't really that cool." Shani said, as she excited the den. Leo frowned at his sister.

"You're only saying that because you don't have any cool places of your own." Leo defended and Shani went to pounce on him, but Leo dodged it and Amri laughed.

"Amri don't laugh." Shani said. "Leo only wants to get you all to himself but turning you against me." she said scowling at her brother.

"But you're both my cousins so why are you-" Amri started to say but Leo cut over him.

"Please as if Amri would want to hang out with a girl and go to girly places." Leo teased , only winding up Shani even more.

"Actually..." Amri pondered. "Why don't we go and find some new places to play at." he suggested and Leo and Shani stopped fighting to stare at him.

"New places?" Leo laughed. "The Pride Lands isn't that big that there would be new places."

"Leo!" Shani yelled, before turning to Amri. "Sure Amri we can go find some new places. I'm sure there's plenty..." she emphasised, looking towards Leo. "Of new places we haven't found." she said and Amri smiled.

In that time the sun had risen more and the rest of the pride was beginning to wake up. It wasn't a surprise to them that the young ones were already up. As soon as Shani saw Kopa walking out the den she ran over to him.

"Daddy, Leo was being mean to me and Amri." she complained and Leo scowled at her.

"I was not." he said.

"Yes you were." she said back.

Kopa rolled his eyes and said "All of you be nice to each other." Shani looked a little disappointed but let it go all the same.

"Shani stop trying to get your brother in trouble." Vitani said as she came out of the den.

"But he was mum." she protested and she looked over at Leo who had a happy grin across his face.

"Sire!" they all heard Zazu say and Kopa looked into the sky to see Zazu flying towards him. He landed below Kopa and quickly caught his breath.

"Zazu what is it?" Kopa asked.

"Sire I've spotted them, they've got closer to the western border." he said and Kopa knew who he was talking about.

"Uh children why don't I finish telling you that story about me and your grandpa Simba." Nala said, distracting the kids and evidently getting them away from this scene. All the cubs followed after her and Kopa silently thanked his mother. This was something they didn't need to here.

Once they were out of sight Kopa turned back to Zazu.

"Zazu are you sure it was them?" he asked.

"I'm certain sire. They matched all the descriptions." Zazu said. Kopa couldn't believe it and he begun to pace up and down.

"That's impossible, they couldn't have advanced that quickly." he said to himself.

"I thought we warned them to keep off the Pride Lands." Kovu said.

"We did but I should've known Jua wouldn't listen. He's ruthless, all he cares about is power." Kopa said, still pacing.

"Kopa if they cross into the Pride Lands he's directly challenging you." Kiara mentioned and Kopa stopped pacing.

"Believe me Kiara I know. He made that pretty clear the last time we spoke." he said. "We have to sort this out, I'll give him one last warning before-"

"Before what?" Kiara asked, cutting him off.

"Before I have no choice but to declare war." he told her.

"Don't you think that's going a bit too far?" she protested.

"Kiara he's taken over dozens of pride's and controls a vast amount of land that's bigger than the Pride Lands put together. Dad told me about him before he passed away." he explained. "He won't stop unless the Pride Lands are his and I don't intend to let that happen."

Kiara sighed. "I understand Kopa." she said. Kopa then pondered something for a second before turning to Kovu.

"Kovu, we need to find him and speak to him again. If he and his pride have advanced that far we need to do something." he said and Kovu nodded.

"Alright, just hope this time he listens to us." Kovu snarled.

"Be careful." Vitani said. "Like you said, he's ruthless." she said, nuzzling him affectionately.

"We'll be fine." Kopa said, smiling gently at her. "Zazu takes us to where you spotted him." Kopa ordered and Zazu took to the sky with Kopa and Kovu following behind him.

* * *

Later on Leo and Amri were round the back of pride rock after woods and both were curious about what Zazu could have meant and why all the adults looked to worried about something.

"So what do you think it was about Amri?" Leo asked, jumping atop a small rock.

"I don't know but it certainly had everyone worried." Amri said. Suddenly Leo's expression turned to excitement.

"Hey Amri why don't we go and see if we can find out where our dads went?" he suggested. Amri didn't look entirely comfortable about it but he still hasn't been outside Pride Rock yet.

"Ok but shouldn't we at least go ask our mums if we can go?" Amri asked and Leo agreed. They ran off to go and find Kiara and Vitani and found them sitting under a spot of shade. Vitani was also giving Shani a bath.

"Hey mum." Leo said running down to Vitani.

"What do you want to ask Leo?" Vitani questioned, in between licking Shani's back.

Leo frowned and looked sort of confused. "How did you know I was going to ask you something?" he asked.

"Because I'm your mother and you always put on that good boy grin of yours." she explained.

"Make it quick Leo you're interrupting my bath." Shani complained. Leo ignored her and turned back towards his mother.

"I was just going to ask if me and Amri could go out." he said.

"Go out where?" she asked and she momentarily stopped bathing Shani.

"Uh by the...uh waterhole." Leo told her, laughing nervously. Vitani turned toward Kiara before giving him her answer.

"Kiara what do you think?" she asked.

"Please mum, can we go?" Amri pleaded. Kiara pondered on this for a second, with a hopeful Leo and Amri waiting for her answer.

"Well I guess it's alright with me." she said and Leo and Amri jumped up and down, excitedly.

"Ok off you go, but make sure you two boys are back before sunset." Vitani said as Leo and Amri ran off and Vitani returned to bathing Shani. Leo and Amri ran off Pride Rock and into the long grass. Amri was particularly excited, since it was his first time off Pride Rock.

"So where are we going Leo?" Amri asked as they walked through the grass.

"I don't know, we'll just walk around and see if we can find out where our dads went it." he said but his attention was drawn to a small butterfly, flying above him. "We can also get some good pouncing practice in until we do." he said and he gestured towards the butterfly flying in front of them. "Come on lets follow it." he said and he went running after it.

"Leo wait up." Amri said and he quickly ran after him. They followed the butterfly a long way through the grass, getting further and further away from Pride Rock and they didn't realise how far they'd gone out. They stopped when they noticed the butterfly land on top of a small branch coming out of a log.

"Hey look it stopped." Amri said as he and Leo hid in the grass behind it.

"Yeah just watch Amri, I'll show you how it's done." Leo said confidently as he readied himself. When he was ready he pounced towards the butterfly but he missed it as it flew away before he could get to it. Only thing was that the log that it was on happened to be at the top of a steep hill and Leo went tumbling down it.

"Leo!" Amri yelled and he ran over to the top of the hill and looked down to see if he could see him.

As Leo came to the bottom of the hill he bumped into something but couldn't tell what it was until he stopped and got to his feet. He looked up and wondered how he was going to get back up that steep hill, but someone distracted him.

"Are you insane? you could've hurt me." and he knew straight away it was a girls voice and he was surprised when he turned around and saw a young cub lioness standing there, glaring at him. Her fur was a pale peach colour and her eyes were the colour of deep blue.

"Well I'm sorry but I didn't mean to." Leo said and the girl tutted.

"Leo are you okay?" Amri said as he came down to join him.

"Yeah I'm fine Amri." Leo said but he noticed Amri's attention was towards the young lioness. "Amri she's just a girl." Leo said and Amri snapped out of it.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, angrily. "Who are you two anyway?" she asked.

"My names Leo and I'm the prince of Pride Lands." Leo told her, proudly with a wide grin on his face.

"I'm Amri his cousin and the kings nephew." he said.

"Wow you're the prince of the pride lands?" she said in disbelief and she laughed slightly. Leo scowled at her and looked rather insulted but the lioness was only paying him back for his earlier comment. "I didn't expect someone like you to be a prince." she said, studying him with a disapproving look on her face.

"Oh yeah and who are you anyway?" Leo asked, going right up to her.

"My names Tamu." she said leaning back and Leo was about to say something when Amri cut over him before he could speak. He figured he better change the subject otherwise Leo and Tamu will be at each other's throats for ages.

"Hey Tamu would you help us get back up the hill. Leo fell down it and we kind of need to be back before sunset." he said. Tamu looked between the two boys before saying anything. She decided she liked Amri but Leo was a little annoying. All the same she agreed to help them.

"Ok I'll help you, I know a way up." she said. "Follow me." Leo and Amri went to follow her but someone stepped in front of her and stopped them. It was a lion and he roared at them. Tamu looked a bit horrified at this lions appearance but Amri and Leo begun to feel slightly scared. He was a huge lion with golden fur and a black coloured mane.

"What are you boys doing so far from home?" he growled.

"Dad I was just helping them-"

"Quiet Tamu!" he snapped and Leo was shocked this lion was her father. "You boys better get out of here..." he said walking towards them and Leo and Amri backed off. "And if you don't I'll-"

"You'll what Jua?" and they all looked to the right to see Kopa and Kovu making their way down the hill. Leo had never felt so relieved to see his dad before. They couldn't have come at a better time.

"Dad!" he said happily but Kopa ignored him and stood protectively in front of him. Kovu did the same with Amri. Leo had a feeling that when this was over he was going to be in a lot of trouble.

"Oh if it isn't Kopa, King of the Pride Lands." Jua mocked and Tamu stood in-between Jua's front legs.

"What do you think you're doing threatening my son and nephew?" Kopa growled angrily.

"Oh so this is your son, I'm not surprised I can definitely see the resemblance in more ways than one." he laughed and Kopa resisted the urge to respond. He calmed down before speaking again.

"What are you doing in the Pride Lands Jua? We made a deal, you keep out of the Pride Lands and we keep out of each other's way. Your daughter is no exception, I included anyone from your oh so powerful pride." Kopa growled.

Jua laughed. "Oh I remember the deal but you know me Kopa I never keep my word." he said. All the cubs didn't know whether to be confused or frightened at the scene before them.

"Enough with your games Jua, take your daughter and get off of the Pride Lands." Kovu ordered. Jua laughed again but, surprisingly picked up Tamu by the scruff of her neck and went to leave.

"Don't think this is over Kopa, because it's only just started." he warned before turning around and walking off with Tamu. Kopa and Kovu soon picked up Leo and Amri by the scruffs of their necks and walked back up the hill. Leo and Amri both glanced over at Tamu while wondering what was going on and they also wondered, after that, if they'd see her again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The entire way home, Leo and Amri said nothing to either Kopa or Kovu, too afraid of the answer they'd get. They still didn't understand what really happened back there with Tamu's father and they already knew that if they'd ask they'd just tell them it's adult stuff. As they were approaching Pride Rock Kopa stopped.

"Kopa?" Kovu managed to say. Kopa motioned for Kovu to go on ahead as he wanted to have a private word with his son. Kovu nodded and continued on his way back.

"Good luck." Amri whispered to Leo.

"You have nothing to be glad about Amri. When your mother finds out what happened you'll be in just as much trouble." Kovu said before fully walking off with his son.

Leo didn't glance up at his father and Kopa proceeded to drop him on the ground. Leo knew what was coming and thought he better just get it over with. He turned towards Kopa and looked up at him.

"Do you have any idea what could've happened if we didn't turn up?" Kopa said, frowning at Leo.

"I'm sorry dad I had no idea. I never expected to bump into Tamu like that." Leo explained looking generally sincere.

"It doesn't matter, you shouldn't have gone off without an escort. By doing that you put yourself and Amri in danger." he said.

"But I had no idea that would happen I don't even know why he was so dangerous. Tamu seemed nice even though she was a bit annoying-" Leo explained.

"Leo I could've lost you today, do you realise that?" Kopa questioned. "If Jua finds you again he will kill you." he said angrily and Leo looked rather scared at the possibility of that. Kopa saw this and calmed himself down a bit. "I don't want that to happen to you. I know from personal experience what that can do." he explained.

"I really am sorry dad, but I really had no idea." Leo said and Kopa let out a deep sigh.

"I know and I guess I can tell you now. Jua is the King of a pride beyond the western border and he controls a huge amount of land that's even bigger than the pride lands. Now he wants to take over the pride lands and I can't let that happen." he explained to a shocked Leo. "He won't stop until he has it. This land has been in our family for generations." he continued.

"So that's why he wasn't happy to see us." Leo said and Kopa nodded. "But Tamu was different, she was going to help us." he protested and Kopa didn't know how to break this to him.

"Leo you can't see Tamu again, I can't risk Jua showing up when I'm not around." he said. It didn't take long for Leo's expression to turn disappointed. He turned away from Kopa and sulked. "Leo I'm only doing this to keep you safe, please understand that." he pleaded.

"Don't worry I understand dad." Leo said, still not facing Kopa. Kopa sighed and didn't say anything more that would upset Leo even further.

"Come on." he said. "We should go home." and he began walking off towards Pride Rock. Leo reluctantly followed behind him, with his head hanging in disappointment. But it didn't matter that Kopa had told him he couldn't see Tamu again because he was already planning to see her again. He was a lot like his father in that respect.

* * *

Once Kopa and Leo returned to Pride Rock Leo walked off and Kopa was about to go after him when a frantic Kiara stopped him.

"Kopa I'm so sorry I had no idea that they would run into him." she apologized. "I've already told Amri not to do it again-"

"Kiara it's fine, the important thing is that the boys are okay." he said and Kiara relaxed a little. "Could you gather up the rest of the pride, there' something important we need to discuss." he asked and Kiara nodded before going off to assemble the other pride members. Kopa begun to pace a little as he thought it would help him think about the best course of action.

"You know when you do that you really remind me of Simba." Kovu laughed from behind and Kopa stopped. "You are definitely your fathers son." he laughed again.

Kopa laughed slightly. "Something you want Kovu?" he asked.

"Yes. I know you're thinking about declaring war aren't you?" he questioned and Kopa knew he'd be the first one to figure it out.

"What choice does that leave me with if I don't? we've tried talking to Jua but he just won't listen and he seems set on trying to take over the pride lands. Declaring war is the only option I have here, then at least I've made it clear to him I'm not giving up the pride lands that easily." he explained. "But I'm still thinking about it so don't tell any of the others ok?" and Kovu nodded but they didn't realise that Leo had overheard that conversation. Before they could spot him he ran off.

"Kopa," Nala said as she and several other lionesses assembled in front of him. "What happened are the boys ok?" she asked and Kopa waited until everyone was seated and listening before he spoke.

"Yes the boys are fine mum but Jua is growing restless. His determination to take over the Pride Lands is growing and he seems to be deliberately threatening me about it. I have no idea what he's planning and my patience is running thin." he told them. Some of the lionesses looked slightly concerned about this and exchanged worrying looks.

"Do you think he's planning to attack? Vitani asked.

"Eventually but at the moment all he seems to be giving me is threats. I wish I knew how he operates." Kopa said, frustrated.

"Even if they do attack we out number them anyway." Vitani said.

"I know but sometimes it's not about numbers Tani. Jua's managed to take over a dozen prides with the amount of members he has, which brings up the question, how have they managed to take over so much land?" he asked himself with a shocked look across his face. "Zazu?" he called out for the hornbill.

"Sire?" Zazu said, flying over to him.

"I want you to find the other prides Jua took over and see if you can find out anything that might help me figure out what he's planning." he ordered.

"Yes sire I'll leave right away." Zazu said, taking to the sky.

"Oh and Zazu if you spot any suspicious activity while you're out, report it to me straight away." he said and Zazu nodded before flying off into the sunset. Soon after Kopa walked off, wanting to think things through again and he also planned to ask the great kings for advice while he was doing that.

* * *

As the day went on Leo was walking round the back of Pride Rock, sulking still. He knew it wouldn't be so easy for him to go out after today, which was a shame because despite first impressions, he actually liked Tamu. Amri saw him sulking and went over to him immediately.

"Hey Leo, what's the matter? Did it not go well with your dad?" he questioned. Leo sat down heavily and hung his head. "Leo?" Amri said, trying to get him to speak.

Leo sighed and said "Dad says we can't see Tamu again. He says it's too dangerous encase her dad turns up."

"What? but Tamu seemed really nice." Amri said.

"I know but you know we could always see her again." Leo suggested, his mischievous grin returning.

"What are you saying?" Amri asked, confused.

"I'm saying we can try to see her again and our parents don't even have to know." he said.

"Ok but how are we going to do that?" Amri questioned and Leo pondered on this for a few seconds. Suddenly his face lit up with excitement.

"I have an idea." he said and he whispered it to Amri. Soon, both young cubs looked eager and happy once again.

* * *

Tamu always liked the look of her home but now she'd been to the Pride Lands she was beginning to think it looked much better than what she's got. But it's not as if she can complain, what with all the land her father's king of. She can just up and move if she doesn't like it. The only good thing about where her pride resides is that it's right on the riverbank, so they're never out of water.

As she and her father approached, most of the lionesses of the pride were resting and some were finishing off parts of their last meal. She noticed her older brother, Shari was doing the same, but when he saw them approaching he stood up and tried to look alert.

Jua growled as he walked through the pride until he got to his mate Safi. He dropped Tamu on the ground and she said nothing.

"Jua what happened?" Safi asked.

"Looks like someone's in trouble." Shari teased Tamu and she did her best to ignore him.

"Oh no I think it's quite the opposite Shari!" Safi yelled at Shari who turned towards his mother, nervously. Jua had explained to her what happened and she was not at all happy. "I told you to watch your sister and keep an eye on her."

"Well I did mother but-"

"And you Tamu..."Safi said cutting over him. "What were you thinking going into the Pride Lands like that?" she asked. "Don't you ever run off again."

"I'm sorry but I only wanted to have a look around and explore a bit." Tamu told her.

"You have plenty of space in our lands to explore Tamu. The Pride Lands is completely off limits." Safi said and Tamu rolled her eyes.

"Another thing that's off limits Tamu, is talking to the princes'!" Jua yelled, furious. Safi looked towards her mate, horrified.

"Tamu you didn't?" Safi questioned her daughter, rather taken aback.

"What's wrong with me talking to them? They both seemed nice, especially Amri. All I was doing was trying to help them get back up the hill." she explained but her parents didn't care, they were too blinded by the fact that she'd made contact with them.

"That's no excuse Tamu and because of that I'm not allowing you to leave the pride for a while is that clear young lady?" he growled.

Tamu frowned at her father and said "Fine." before looking away. Tamu soon walked off with her annoying brother Shari following her. He knew he better redeem himself while he still can and keep an eye on her.

"I can't believe it you actually ran into the princes'!" he mocked as they walked off. Tamu ignored him again as she tried to think up a way to get out of here and see the boys again, without her parents finding out.

Jua sighed as he watched his children walk off. "In other matters, I'm beginning to realise just how much of a stubborn King Kopa is. Of course I'm threatening him but it just doesn't seem to work on him." Jua explained to Safi. "I'm telling you Safi the Pride Lands is going to be challenging to take until we get our paws on it."

"I know Jua but look at how much we've gained already. Of course the Pride Lands was going to be hard to get but eventually it will be ours." she said, trying to convince her mate of that. "But you know it might help if we tell Tamu what's going on." she suggested.

"No Safi, it's too soon and she's too young to understand the reasons why we do this." he protested and Safi groaned in annoyance. "But I will make sure she stays away from Kopa's son and nephew. The less she consorts with them the more likely she won't turn against us." he said.

"For now I'm agreeing with you Jua. It looks like we will need to be patient before we begin our take over plan." Safi said and they both grinned at each other.

* * *

As night begun to settle over the Pride Lands, Rafiki was in his tree, happily painting his pictures of the cubs, Leo, Shani and Amri on the wall of his tree. He'd just finished Shani's and went on to creating Leo's when two familiar soothing breezes brushed past him.

"Ah yes Mufasa Rafiki agrees with you on that. Never has Rafiki seen the pride Lands so full of life." he chuckled. "Yes Simba Rafiki agrees with you on that. Kopa is indeed turning into a great and wise King that is making everyone proud." he said.

And he finished his small drawing of Leo. "Rafiki also senses that Leo will be sure to follow in his father's footsteps and those before him. He has a kind heart that will serve him well." Rafiki said, happily but the two spirits of Mufasa and Simba flew past him violently and Rafiki's expression showed concern. "Surely that cannot be true?" he questioned. He stopped painting and listened to more.

"There's another pride threatening the peace and balance?" he questioned at the two breezes settled in front of Rafiki's painting of Leo. "What could he possibly do?" he asked them and Rafiki soon frowned. "There is another cub? a lioness." he said and it didn't take him long to put two and two together.

"Oh no Mufasa!" Rafiki yelled, turning away from the painting with his arms folded. "Despite how it went the last time Rafiki is not putting himself through that again." he protested and the spirit of Simba joined in. "Not you too Simba. Rafiki is not playing match maker for a second time." he protested, being unusually stubborn.

"This time Rafiki thinks it's best if we just let things play out for now. If Rafiki thinks uniting Leo and this young lioness is the key Rafiki will consider it but not at the moment." he said and the spirits of Mufasa and Simba settled down before disappearing all together.

Rafiki let out a sigh once he could feel them no longer. Despite what he had just said, this news was very worrying . The last thing they need is the threat of a takeover looming over them. But Rafiki was confident in the King Kopa had become and hoped he would have the strength to overcome it.

* * *

Kopa could tell this was a dream immediately. The sky above him was a mix of purple and blue and all the stars shined amongst it. There was also a softening breeze in the air that made all the long grass move back and forth. He walked through the grass, trying to figure out this dream when all of a sudden he spotted Simba up ahead.

"Dad?" he questioned, moving closer. Simba smiled at him and Kopa couldn't believe it.

"It's been too long my son." Simba said, warmly.

"I can't believe it worked." Kopa said in disbelief.

"What worked?" Simba asked, slightly confused.

"Oh I followed your advice and asked the great kings for help." he explained and Simba understood immediately. "You couldn't have come at a better time. I'm so confused about what to do." he told him.

"Ah this is about Jua's threat to take over the pride lands isn't it?" Simba asked and Kopa nodded. "Let's take a walk." Simba suggested, going to leave. "We have a lot to discuss my son." he said and Kopa followed after him, telling him everything that had happened and why he's facing a dilemma about the right course of action. He evidently knew that Simba would be able to help no matter what.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
**

The next morning, Shani woke up just after sunrise. She noticed the rest of the pride was asleep, including her parents. She took this as her chance and quietly ran out of the den and up onto the stand. Eupe and Sura would be here soon, or at least she hoped, they had promised her they be here just after sunrise. As she looked out towards the horizon she soon saw two bluebirds flying towards Pride Rock. She jumped down onto a rock below to go and meet them when all of a sudden someone picked her up by the scruff of her neck and placed her back onto the stand. She turned round to see her dad staring down at her.

"Where do you think you're going so early?" Kopa asked and she laughed nervously.

"I was just going to ask you about that actually." she said.

"Oh really because just then it looked like you were planning to sneak off without telling me, again." he said, raising an eye at her. "Shani how many times do I have to tell you? if you want to leave pride rock ask me before you leave ok."

"Ok, so can I go out with Eupe and Sura again?" she asked putting on a soft smile and gesturing to the two birds approaching.

Kopa sighed. "Ok but please don't be too long. I'm already having to restrict your brother." he said.

"Thanks dad." she said happily and she ran off to go and meet Eupe and Sura. As Kopa watched her run off he noticed Timon and Pumbaa sleeping, off to the side.

"Guys," he said, giving them a small nudge with his paw. "Guys wake up." he said, nudging them again and they both sprung up looking rather alert. Timon looked around like there was something dangerous going on but when he saw Kopa he realised there wasn't and frowned.

"What's the meaning of his Kopa? It's too early for me." Timon complained, yawning.

"Timon it's past sunrise already." Kopa told them.

"So? doesn't mean we have to get up." Timon said. Kopa ignored this and changed the subject, before Shani got too far away.

"Guys can I ask you a favour?" he asked and they looked and him expectantly. "Can you go and keep an eye on Shani for me and make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble." he said and Timon groaned. "Please Timon I would really appreciate it."

"Why the girl huh? why can't we keep watch on Leo for once?" Timon complained and he slowly, climbed on top of Pumbaa.

"I'm keeping Leo here for a few days." Kopa explained. "So please just keep watch on her and make sure she stays safe. Remember to be discrete about it." he reminded them and Timon just groaned again. Pumbaa nodded instead and they both soon followed after Shani.

* * *

Shani ran excitedly through grass with Eupe and Sura flying along either side of her. She was happy her father let her go out today, but even if he hadn't she would've just snuck out anyway. Being cooped up at Pride Rock can get a little boring and he doesn't understand that.

"I'm so glad Kopa let you come out with us again." Sura said.

"Yeah so am I." Eupe said. Shani laughed playfully before spotting a butterfly on a rock up ahead. She stopped and stared at it.

"Hey Eupe, Sura look." she said gesturing to the butterfly in front. "I've never been so close to one before, they always fly away before I go near them." she said. She moved slowly towards and Eupe and Sura followed. "Wow it's so pretty." she commented.

She moved closer again but she nudged a small stone on her way and the butterfly begun to fly away.

"Hey wait." she said and she immediately went chasing after it.

"Shani where are you going?" Sura asked as she and Eupe followed after her. Shani continued to follow the butterfly through the grass and it fluttered around her as she chased it. She laughed playfully all the way until she spotted someone in the clearing ahead. She stopped chasing the butterfly and let it fly away so she could get a good look at who it was.

She realised it was a young male cub, probably the same age as her. He had pale brown fur and the start of a dark brown mane was showing on the top of his head. He was sitting down under a small tree, getting some shade from the hot sun.

"Oh who's that?" Eupe asked and Shani almost forgot they were there.

"I don't know but he looks sad." Shani commented.

"Well why don't you go talk to him." Sura suggested. "We'll be right here." she said. Shani looked towards the young cub and thought she would. Maybe he could use someone to talk to.

"Ok I'll be back in minute." she said and she leapt out the grass, startling the young cub. He looked a little frightened as she approached and Shani couldn't help but wonder why he was all by himself. He got up and went to leave.

"Hey it's ok you don't have to leave." she said, walking closer towards him. He didn't and instead sat back down under the tree, with his head hanging. She went over and sat down beside. "Are you okay? you seem really upset." she said, but he didn't answer her. "Ok, my names Shani what's yours?" she asked.

"Cheza," he said and a smile was beginning to appear on Shani's face.

"Well Cheza what's the matter?" she asked again.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter what's wrong because you can't do anything about it." he said and he didn't look at her.

"Well my dad is the king of the pride lands so maybe-"

"Not even a king can bring back my parents." he said, cutting her off. Shani was left speechless and feeling very sorry for him. How could she hope to cheer him after he's lost his parents. But know she knows why he's all alone.

"I'm sorry." she said. "How long have you been on your own?" she asked.

"Not very long. I never thought I could feel so lonely." he said and Shani thought he was about to cry. Either way she wasn't going to let that happen and decided she'd try and cheer him up by giving him some company.

"Well I'll tell you what why don't we play hide a seek?" she suggested and for the first time Cheza turned towards her. "I don't have to be back for ages so we can play as long as you want." she said.

"But you're a princess, why would you want to play with me?" he asked and Shani laughed.

"Don't be silly, just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I won't play with you. Now do you want to hide first or shall I?" she asked and Shani was delighted when she saw Cheza smile.

"Ok." he said. "But I'll hide first."

"Ok I'll count to ten." she said and she turned away to let Cheza go off and hide.

* * *

Later on Timon and Pumbaa were still searching for Shani. They'd lost sight of her when she found the butterfly and went chasing after it. They didn't want to return to Kopa and tell him they lost track of his daughter.

"I swear she's as bad as Kiara used to be." Timon complained. "I'm beginning to think that maybe it's just girls." he said.

"Shani?" Pumbaa called out but Timon bent over and clasped his hands around Pumbaa's mouth.

"What are you doing Pumbaa? Kopa told us to be discrete." Timon reminded him and he released his hands and sat back down.

"Oh yeah he did, sorry." Pumbaa said as they trailed through the grass.

"Wherever she is I hope she hasn't-" but Timon stopped speaking when they heard yell that sounded like a young lioness's. "Did you hear that?" he asked Pumbaa and Pumbaa nodded. "Well what are you waiting for let's go?" he said and Pumbaa moved off in the direction they'd heard the yell.

They came to a small cliff and looked down to see Shani there with another male cub. They were rolling around until the male pinned het to the ground.

"Pumbaa jump down there." Timon ordered and Pumbaa did as he asked and jumped down the cliff, revealing them to Shani. "Shani!" Timon yelled and Shani and Cheza looked towards them, surprised to see them there.

"Timon, Pumbaa what are you guys doing here?" Shani said angrily and Cheza moved off her to let her stand up. She didn't even need them to answer once she saw the looks on their faces. She knew instantly why they were here. "My dad sent you to keep watch on me didn't he?" she asked.

"It's a good thing he did too seeing as you were in trouble." Timon said.

"What, I wasn't in trouble. I was only playing with Cheza." she explained and Timon glanced at the male cub beside Shani, realising he was completely harmless. "I can't believe my dad sent you to keep watch on me. Doesn't he think I can take care of myself?" she asked.

"It's not like that Shani. He just wants to make sure you don't get hurt when he's not around, that's all. You are only a cub after all." Pumbaa explained. "Although he did tell us not to let you see us." Shani sighed in annoyance and rolled her eyes.

"Sorry about these two Cheza they're-" but she looked beside her to see Cheza was gone. "Cheza?" she said, glancing around but he was nowhere to be found. She groaned and turned back towards Timon and Pumbaa. "Thanks a lot. I was trying to cheer him up, now he's run off." she said.

"Well I guess you should go home with us now." Timon said.

"Fine." Shani sighed and she walked off back to Pride Rock with Timon and Pumbaa, wondering if she'd see Cheza again.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Pride Rock Kopa was resting on the stand. As he settled down he noticed Leo and Amri off to the side playing. They were rolling around and Kopa stopped them when they bumped into his back leg.

"You two seem to be having fun." he commented as Leo and Amri got to their feet.

"Yeah I was just helping Amri practice his pouncing when he decided to practice on me instead." Leo laughed.

"I see." Kopa said smiling down at them.

"I've been practicing mine a lot so when you teach me to hunt I'll be ready." Leo said. "Mum and grandma told me you always hunt so I figured you'd end up teaching me sooner or later." and Kopa was a bit taken aback by this.

Truth be told he hasn't been hunting for months. His duty as king has been taking up most of his time so he's always tired at the end of the day. Now he understands why Simba always wanted him to concentrate more on being king than hunting. Still he didn't want to disappoint Leo. He'd have to make time for it when he's older.

"Sure I will but when you're older." he said but he didn't expect Leo's next random question.

"Dad why are we at war with Tamu's pride?" Leo asked and Kopa looked at his son, stunned.

"We're not at war Leo. Where did you get that Idea from?" Kopa asked, shrugging it off.

"I heard you talking about it with uncle Kovu." he explained and Kopa sighed. Kids are always so mischievous and they weren't supposed to know anything about it in the first place.

"Leo I've already explained to you what's going on. But we are not at war ok." he said, standing up. Amri was just sitting beside Leo, glancing at them both, deciding whether or not to say something.

"You've always told me that we are one so if we are why are we fighting with Tamu's pride?" Leo asked again, completely ignoring what Kopa had just told him.

"Leo would you please stop with this. I've told you Jua wishes to take the pride lands. He's the one that's threatening me. He started this not me. I'm only doing what I'm doing to protect the pride." Kopa explained. Leo frowned at him, looking slightly upset. "You're only doing this because you want to see Tamu again don't you?" Kopa questioned.

"It's not fair dad. All we want to do is see her and we can't because we're fighting with her pride." Leo said and he walked off, upset. Kopa groaned, annoyed at this whole situation. Amri looked up at Kopa and asked him something.

"Uncle Kopa what if there was a way for the fighting to stop." he asked and Kopa was momentarily stunned by that question.

"There's always a way Amri it just depends on what that way is and if it works." he explained before walking off and leaving Amri thinking about what he'd said.

* * *

Tamu couldn't believe what she'd just been told. She always wondered why her parents got so angry when she wondered off into the Pride Lands, now she knew. They wanted to take it over and claim the Pride Lands as their own. But they've got so much land already why do they need more?

"So you see Tamu it's extremely important you keep out of the pride lands." her mother, Safi said.

"But why do we need so much land?" she asked and her brother Shari laughed.

"Isn't it obvious? the more land we have to more powerful pride we become." he said but as usual she didn't pay much attention to him and turned back to her parents.

"Can't we just make do with the land we have instead of getting more?" she questioned again and Safi looked over at Jua as if to say, you're answering this one.

Jua sighed and said "Tamu you need to understand I'm doing this for you so you'll have all this one day and follow in my footsteps." he said and even he knew he hadn't answered her question. Tamu sighed.

"Ok." she said and she walked off.

"Well you handled that brilliantly." Safi said, sarcastically. Jua scowled and turned away from her.

"What did you expect me to say?" he asked her.

"I don't know but anything would've been better than that." Safi complained. "I'm getting increasingly worried about our daughters state of mind Jua. I won't be surprised if she turns against us and runs to the Pride Lands." she said.

"That won't happen." Jua growled. "But I did tell she wouldn't understand, that's why I said that."

"Yes I know but how do you plan to keep our daughter on our side?" she asked and Jua fell silent.

"With a little training and a talking to she will understand and help us take over the Pride Lands. She's just too young at the moment." he said and Safi sighed before leaving Jua to his thoughts.

* * *

The sun was beginning to descend over the Pride Lands and most of the pride was settling in the den, ready for sleep. Kopa spotted Leo making his way in and decided that after what had happened earlier, he wanted to show and tell him something important.

"Kopa?" Vitani said, seeing him leave the den. "Are you not coming?" she asked.

"I will but I just want to have a word with Leo." he said and she let him go off. Leo was about to enter the den when he noticed his father's form over him.

"Come on I want to show you something." he said and Leo followed him, a bit curious as to what he planned to show him. He followed Kopa all the way up to the top of Pride Rock and wondered why he had led him here.

"What are we doing all the way up here?" he asked, going over to sit beside Kopa. As he looked out into the sky he realised he could see all the Pride Lands from up here, including the neighbouring outlands, where Kopa had repeatedly told him not to go.

"Well I know it's sunset but look at everything in the light." he said and Leo did as he asked. "One day Leo everything that's touched by the light will be yours and the responsibility of king will fall to you." he explained and Leo looked a little daunted by this fact. "Listen, what we're doing right now I never got the chance to do with my father." he said.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, generally interested.

"Well when I was your age something bad happened and I was separated from my family for a long time. They all thought I was dead and if it wasn't for your mother I wouldn't have come back." he explained. "I grew up in the wilderness with Tojo and never really got a lot of time with my father, at least not as much time as you'll have with me." he said with a smile and Leo smiled back. "When you're king you'll understand the reasons for the decisions I make."

"You think?" Leo said and Kopa laughed slightly.

"Yes because I know I do. One thing my father did tell me was that all the great kings of the past are watching over us from above, ready to guide us whenever we need them." he said and Leo glanced up at the darkening sky with awe.

"So grandpa Simba's up there?" he asked, still looking at the sky.

"Yes." he said, glancing up there himself. "Believe me Leo one day you will come to understand all this." he said, confidently. "You'll understand the problem that I'm faced with."

"I guess." he said, looking back at Kopa.

"Come on we should go back down and get some sleep." Kopa said, gesturing for Leo to follow him. He did and once they settled down in the den Leo drifted off to sleep beside Kopa with a smile on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It had been several days now since Kopa had ordered Zazu to go and find out some information from the other prides Jua took land from. That afternoon Kopa was resting, after having a busy attending to his duties. He was looking forward to some long hours of sleep but as usual Pride Rock was far from peaceful. No sooner had he settled down, when he saw Zazu making a quick return to pride rock. The hornbill looked exhausted as he set himself down in front of Kopa. After being away for so many days Kopa wasn't surprised.

"Sire I have returned with the information you asked for." Zazu said, panting.

"Zazu did you find all the prides?" Kopa asked and Zazu nodded.

"Ok did they tell you anything about what happened when Jua begun taking over their land?" he asked.

"Yes sire, they were very helpful on that note..." but he was cut off by a frantic Nala.

"Kopa," she called out and Kopa stood up immediately.

"Mum what's the matter?" he asked and Nala looked slightly nervous.

"It's Shani. I was watching her before and I must've fallen asleep because when I woke up she was gone. I've looked all around for her and she's not at Pride Rock." Nala explained.

"What? Shani's gone." he said, immediately overcome with worry. He turned back towards a bewildered Zazu and said "Zazu go and get some rest, we'll continue this conversation later." Zazu was about to reply, but found himself too exhausted and collapsed where he was.

"I can't believe she would have the nerve to sneak off again. I'll have to go and look for her could you tell Vitani, I don't need her worrying about this." Kopa said.

"Of course." Nala said as Kopa ran off of pride rock. Others seemed to use Shani's disappearance as an opportunity, this being Leo and Amri, who'd watched Kopa leave as well.

"Come on Amri we should go now, while my dad's not here." Leo said gesturing for Amri to follow him.

"Ok but what if we can't find Tamu again?" Amri asked.

"Trust me we'll find her. We'll just go to the place where we met her the first time." Leo said and Amri didn't ask any more questions as both cubs, also fled Pride Rock.

* * *

At the same time, Tamu seemed to have the same idea. It was hot out and most of her pride was asleep in the shade, including her parents. She took that as her chance. If she was lucky she could be back before they even wake up. She stood up quietly and made her way out of the pride and towards a long grass area. Just when she'd gotten further enough away someone caught her.

"Looks like little Tamu's sneaking off again." and Tamu groaned when she saw her brother Shari behind her.

"What do you want Shari?" Tamu asked, frowning.

"You think after last time mum and dad aren't going to punish me for letting you sneak off? speaking of which if they find out you'll be in so much trouble. You're going back to the Pride Lands aren't you?" he asked and Tamu's frown deepened.

"So what if I am? Mum and dad won't find out anyway because you're not going to tell them." she said with a gleeful smile on her face.

"Oh really and why would I do that?"

"Well if you do I'll tell mum and dad about the times you sneak off to go see that lioness you've become so friendly with." Tamu threatened with glee and Shari looked horrified.

"You've been following me? You sneaky little-" Shari said.

"Well if you don't want anyone to know don't tell mum and dad where I've gone." Tamu said, rather pleased with herself.

Shari groaned and said "Fine but I won't stick up for you if you do get in trouble." but Tamu didn't take any notice of that last comment as she was already off and making her way towards the Pride Lands.

* * *

"Now this is better. I can't believe I actually managed to sneak away." said Shani. She was far from Pride Rock now and amongst her excitement, hadn't realised she was walking in the direction of the Outlands. Good thing for her, was that she wasn't alone. As usual Eupe and Sura weren't far behind.

"Come on you two you're lagging behind." she laughed.

"Shani I'm not so sure about this. You know how close we are to the outlands." Sura said, emerging from the grass and flying over to Shani.

"We are?" Shani said and rather than being afraid, like Sura had expected, Shani grew even more excited. "I don't believe it, the outlands." she said running off up ahead to get a good look at the scene before her.

"Shani, Sura is right. The outlands aren't a place we should go into, what with the hyena's living there." Eupe said and Shani rolled her eyes.

"I know about the hyena's." Shani said. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to take a look around."

"It's not just that that we're worried about. If Kopa finds out you went to the outlands he won't be happy with you or us." Sura said and Shani couldn't believe what they were saying.

"It's because my dad doesn't know that I want to go there. It's the only reason I snuck off, so he wouldn't send Timon and Pumbaa to keep watch on me again." she explained. Eupe and Sura looked at each other before looking back at Shani.

"Look Shani, it's just too dangerous for you to be wandering around in the outlands. We don't want you to get hurt." Sura said and Shani sighed with disappointment, everyone was always so concerned for her safety. Shani scowled at them.

"Fine I'll go by myself, you two can stay here and go home." she said and with a flick of her tail she jumped down below and crossed into the outlands, before Eupe and Sura had a chance to call her back.

As Shani crossed in the dry and dusty outlands she was frustrated and annoyed that no one seems to understand her curious nature.

"I don't need them. I'll be just fine by myself." she said to herself. "Besides it's just the outlands." she said and she soon felt water soak her right paw. She stepped back and realised she'd come across a muddy lake. "Oh great." she said but, luckily enough for her there happened to be several rocks across the water, creating an usually safe path.

"Ha, see I can take care of myself." she said jumping onto the first rock then onto the second. "I don't know what they were so worried about." she continued, but all of a sudden she felt the rock underneath her move. She was horrified when she saw a crocodile's head appear and it was then she realised those rocks had not been rocks at all but the backs of crocodiles.

"Well look what we have here boys." the one she was standing on said. "A fresh little lion cub, how nice." he laughed, staring down at Shani, looking rather hungry.

"Hey I think I know this one." said another crocodile and he swam up to get a closer look at Shani. "Yeah this one's the daughter of the king of the pride lands." he said.

"Well, well, well we have royalty with us, even better." said the one she was standing on. Shani didn't know what to do. She was wishing now that she'd listened to Eupe and Sura. She glanced beside her and noticed a huge branch sticking out of the water. She jumped onto it just before the crocodile snapped his jaws. She used her claws to hang onto it and jump up further.

"Come on down princess I promise we won't bite." one of the crocodiles said, as they all gathered around the branch Shani was on. She tried to climb up further, but slipped and she screamed.

"Hey!" someone shouted. All the crocodiles turned away from her to look at another young cub. Shani looked over there too and saw that it was Cheza. She couldn't be more happy to see him. "Leave her alone." Cheza said.

"Oh," said a crocodile and he swam up to where Cheza was standing on the other side of the lake. "Trying to be brave are we?"

"I said leave her alone, if you're hungry go find some other animal to eat." Cheza said, keeping calm. He looked up at Shani, who had managed to climb to the top of the branch. The crocodile closest to him saw this glance between them and grinned.

"Oh I see, our little brave cub here has a soft spot for the princess." he laughed.

"No I just don't think it's right for you to pick on a girl." Cheza said and while he was distracting the crocodiles she managed to jump safely back to shore. She gave a sigh of relief when she had her paws firmly on the ground again.

"Enough of this talk time to eat." the crocodile said and he turned back to noticed Shani gone and when he turned back towards Cheza he was gone too. The crocodiles groaned, annoyed they'd missed out on what would have been a great meal. It wasn't long before they all retreated back into the water.

Shani and Cheza soon met up in a small clearing and safely in the Pride Lands. Shani was extremely happy to see him again and practically knocked him over when she jumped on top of him.

"Thank you so much Cheza. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't turned up." she said and she backed off to let him stand up.

"It was no problem. Living out here on your own you kind of learn how to survive." he said with a smile. "Besides I couldn't let them eat a girl."

"Thank you, really but I'd never thought I'd see you again, especially after you ran off when Timon and Pumbaa appeared." she said.

"Oh yeah about that, I'm sorry but you said your dad was the king and I thought they'd tell him about me and you'd get in trouble." he explained.

"Well you didn't have anything to worry about because they didn't." Shani said. "But I think it's sweet that you were worried about me." she said, turning slightly shy.

"Well you're the only friend I had and I wouldn't want you to get in trouble because of me." he said and Shani was about to answer back when they both heard a loud roar from behind and Kopa stepped out the grass, along with Eupe and Sura.

"Dad?" Shani said, surprised but when she saw Eupe and Sura she frowned. "You told him?" she said.

"I'm sorry Shani, we couldn't just let you go off alone and he was already looking for you when we found him." Eupe explained, sounding apologetic.

"Shani," Kopa said, making Shani look at him. "How could you sneak off again without telling me. Do you have any idea how worried I've been? I was afraid I wouldn't find you before sunset." he said, rather angry.

"But I only wanted to go out without having to worry about Timon and Pumbaa watching me." she said.

"What are you talking about?" Kopa asked, sounding surprised.

"I know you sent them to keep watch on me, dad." she said and Kopa couldn't deny it. He'd have to have a talk with Timon and Pumbaa about this later.

"The only reason I did that was to make sure you're safe and you don't get hurt. Shani, you're my daughter and I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." he said.

"But it's not fair!" she yelled. "Leo gets to go out all the time without being watched but you always send them to keep watch on me." she complained and Kopa was struggling to try and reason with her. He was about to say something when he noticed a pale furred lion cub standing behind her.

"Who are you?" he asked and that grabbed Cheza's attention.

"He's just a friend and his names Cheza. He saved me from a bunch of crocodiles in the outlands and-"

"You were in the outlands?" Kopa said, a bit horrified. "Shani I've told you plenty of times not to go there, how could you disobey me?" he questioned.

Cheza, feeling a little intimidated by Kopa's appearance, turned to leave.

"Wait, Cheza you don't have to leave." Shani said, stopping him.

"Yes he does because you are coming home with me, where you will stay until I can trust you again." Kopa said and he went to pick Shani up but she moved away.

"No that's not fair." she said, getting upset.

"Life isn't fair, I learnt that personally when I was your age!" he shouted back at her unintentionally. It wasn't long before Cheza soon disappeared and that made Shani even more upset.

"I only wanted to get away from Pride Rock and have some fun." she said, almost crying.

"Yes but you don't know how dangerous it is for a cub away from pride rock." Kopa said. "I'm doing this because I love you Shani and I don't want to lose you." but Shani ran off crying not even looking at Kopa when she said this.

"I hate you!" she yelled and that stunned Kopa to say the least. He froze, unable to comprehend what she had just said. He relaxed a little and bowed his head. He let out a heavy sigh and looked the sky.

"How did you do it? because I can't seem to get it right with her." he asked before he went after Shani. He found her, walking back to Pride Rock with her head bowed. She didn't look at him and after what had just happened, Kopa thought it best if he didn't say anything either.

* * *

They walked back to Pride Rock, not saying a word to each other and when they arrived Vitani was there to greet them. She was relieved when she saw Shani but noticed the looks on both their faces and realised it had not gone well.

"Shani, thank goodness you're alright." she said but Shani ignored her and carried on walking up Pride Rock. Vitani turned back to Kopa who wasn't looking so happy either. "Kopa what happened?" she asked.

"Our daughter hates me." he said and for a moment Vitani thought he was joking.

"Really?" she questioned.

"Yep she said it, loud and clear." he said. "Tell me Tani I am a terrible father?" he asked.

"No of course not." she said. "You are a great father and a great king. Shani's young and she doesn't understand yet." she said, trying to cheer him up.

"I know and she doesn't understand I do what I do for her. Both of kids don't understand that and I can never seem to get it right with her. The more I do to protect her the more our daughter seems to hate me and I won't be surprised if Leo turns that way soon." he said.

"Kopa," Vitani said and she nuzzled him warmly. "Don't stress yourself out over this. Shani will come to understand someday. I'm sure she didn't mean what she said and she'll come and apologize in the morning."

"You think because it sounded like she meant it." Kopa muttered as Vitani continued to nuzzle him.

"Yes, now just relax. You've been exhausted most of the afternoon and now that Shani's back you have nothing to worry about." Vitani said, unaware that she'd spoken too soon. Kiara and Kovu soon come out looking extremely distressed.

"Kopa, Vitani we can't find Leo and Amri anywhere." Kiara said and both Kopa and Vitani were in shock. Looks like Kopa won't get to rest anytime soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

Completely unaware of the ciaos surrounding their disappearance , Leo and Amri were happily walking through the Pride Lands making their way to the place where they first met Tamu. Luckily enough for them, she too was making her way towards the Pride Lands.

"Come on Amri, you're walking too slow." Leo said, running ahead.

"Sorry I was just thinking about something." Amri said, running up to catch up with Leo.

"Oh yeah about what?" Leo asked.

"Well I really hope we do find her again because I really liked her." Amri said.

"Yeah I really liked her too." Leo said, unaware of what Amri really meant by that. Amri frowned.

"You did? but you couldn't stop fighting." he mentioned.

"I know but that's why. She's just like me." Leo said happily, before he ran off ahead again, laughing all the way. Amri went after him and almost bumped into him when Leo stopped abruptly.

"Leo what is it?" Amri asked, seeing his speechless expression.

"We're here, this is the hill that I fell down when I met Tamu." He told him and a wide smile spread across Amri's face. "We should find a safe way down to see if she's down there." Leo said, excitedly and Amri nodded in agreement. They both turned around and almost fell down the hill when they saw Tamu standing right in front of them, with a wide grin on her face.

"Well never thought I'd see you two boys again." she said.

"Really? cause we left to come find you."Leo said.

"We wanted to see you again." Amri said.

"You both wanted to see me again?" she asked and neither of them said anything but their expressions alone were enough for her to know that was true.

"Good because I wanted to see you two again. I snuck out so I could come find you." she told them and both Leo and Amri grinned. "But my parents did tell me I'm not allowed to go to the Pride Lands." and she rolled her eyes at that.

"Why's that?" Amri asked.

"My dad told me that because he wants to take over the pride lands our prides are at war until he does." she said, turning slightly solemn. The idea of it didn't seem nice to her at all.

"My dad said the same thing but he said we weren't at war." Leo said, looking slightly confused. Amri was shocked though. It was the first time he'd heard about all this. Tamu, wasn't sure what to believe, this whole thing was confusing enough for her anyway.

"Well I think it's stupid. You two don't seem as bad as my dad told me you'd be." she said. "Plus you two are the only friends I've had since I was born." Leo and Amri glanced at each other, before looking back at Tamu. "Come on don't look so shocked, I thought you'd be happy." she said.

"Oh we are but maybe we should go somewhere else, don't want any of our parents coming to look for us here." Amri said.

"Yeah, come on follow me." Tamu said, turning to leave and Leo and Amri followed eagerly after her. Tamu lead them further into the Pride Lands and when she was sure they'd keep following her she hid in the grass beside them. When Leo ran past she pounced on him, surprising him.

"You should learn to keep an eye out." she teased, getting off him.

"Oh yeah." Leo grinned before pouncing on Tamu and the pair of them rolled about, laughing playfully. Amri soon joined in and Leo found it was two against one. "Hey Amri you're supposed to be on my side." he laughed.

"He doesn't have to be on your side all the time you know." Tamu said.

"I know but you aren't doing anything to him are you." Leo pointed out. "What is it with you Amri?" he asked, turning to Amri who was lying down on his back. "Girls always seem to like you, first Shani now Tamu." he said.

"Who's Shani?" Tamu asked, sitting down.

"She's my sister." Leo informed her. "My twin sister." he corrected.

"Oh well if you want girls to like you maybe you should stop boasting and acting like you're the best t everything." Tamu said.

"I do not." Leo laughed. "Besides what's there not to like."

Tamu laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh I can think of some things."

"Yeah me too." Amri said, giggling again and Leo scowled at him. Tamu pounced on him again and the cubs resumed playing about amongst the grass.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Pride Rock things were far from joyful. Kopa was less than surprised to hear that the boys had run off again but his worry was about to increase. Before they left to go and find them, Zazu insisted on telling them exactly what he'd learned from the other prides. He stressed that it was extremely important and they needed to hear it immediately.

"Go on Zazu." Kopa said and Zazu coughed to clear out his throat.

"Well the first thing that struck me when I visited the prides was that there were no males present, just lionesses. I asked all of them about this and they all told me the same thing." he said. "I don't wish to alarm you sire but they all told me Jua and his pride target all males and remove any heirs to the throne."

"All heirs?" Kopa said in disbelief.

"Yes sire and some were killed before they came of age." Zazu said and all adults were shocked. "Once all the heirs were gone he proceeds to challenge the leader of the pride and if defeated the prides lionesses have no choice but to submit the land." Zazu finished.

"No..." Kopa said.

"Kopa if he finds them again..." Vitani said.

"I know but believe me that isn't going to happen. There is no way I'm going to let Jua take my son from me." he said. "Kovu, Vitani and I will go ahead and find them. When we do I'll send Zazu back so you and Kiara can follow on. Don't hesitate to bring a few others with you." he said and Kovu nodded, he trusted him enough to let him go.

Without hesitation Zazu took to the sky and flew off and Kopa and Vitani followed close behind him. After what Zazu had just informed them they needed ever second they had.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them though, Leo and Amri were happily playing about with Tamu still. They had no idea of the dangers that they could be facing, in fact danger was slowly approaching.

"Come on Leo you're no fun. You don't have to get all grumpy just because I found you first." Tamu said.

"I'm not grumpy I just-"

"Don't like to lose?" Tamu said, cutting him off. Leo hesitated for a moment which only made Tamu giggle. "You are so predictable Leo." she said and she fell onto her back, uncontrollably laughing.

Leo couldn't understand what was so funny in the first place.

"Can you stop laughing at me?" he asked going over to her. "Oh and for your information it has nothing to do with losing, in fact I don't care if I win or lose I just-" but he was cut off again as a frantic Amri ran out, looking a little frightened.

"We need to go home now." he said.

"What? but we're only just starting to have fun." Tamu complained, standing up.

"You won't be having fun soon little sister." Tamu's smile turned upside down as she saw her brother Shari step out the grass and he wasn't alone. Jua and Safi followed behind him and Leo and Amri found themselves behind Tamu, backing away slowly.

"Shari you told them! even after you promised me you wouldn't." she shouted angrily at him.

"Please as if you were going to get me to keep you little secret with a threat like that." he laughed.

"Shari!" she yelled running towards him but before he hit him she was picked up by her mother.

"You are in a lot of trouble so if I were you I'd be quiet." her mother said.

"Let me go!"Tamu said and she struggled in her grasp and Safi soon dropped her.

"Tamu!" she yelled.

"Don't you move." Jua said and Tamu stopped, she could see the anger on her father's face and she knew this wasn't going to be pretty. "You are going to be in so much trouble when we get home. How could you disobey me after I plainly said you were not to go into the Pride Lands." he asked, bending his head down to her height.

"You won't care what I say." she argued. "But you know what I hate being confined to the same old place we've lived, it's so annoying and I don't even have any friends there." she complained.

"What are you talking about you have plenty of friends." Jua said.

"No you think I do but they don't like me, Leo and Amri are the only real friends I've had." she said. "If you hurt them I will run away and you'll never see me again." she threatened, meaning every word.

"You'll run away?" Jua laughed, he didn't believe any of it. "You won't even be able to survive that long." he said. "Still you think I'm going to let you little friends go because of some childish threat?" he asked and Tamu couldn't say anything.

"Uh dad?" Shari said.

"Not now Shari." Jua snapped.

"No dad seriously they're gone." he said and Jua snapped his head back round and noticed Leo and Amri were nowhere to be seen. He growled angrily and saw the wide grin upon Tamu's face.

"You were too busy talking to me to notice they'd left." she said, happily. Jua went to go after the two but was suddenly knocked to the ground by Kopa. Vitani soon appeared as well, with Leo and Amri standing safely behind her.

"I thought I made myself perfectly clear the last time Jua." Kopa roared, as Jua got to his feet. "Zazu return to pride rock and tell the others were we are." he ordered and Zazu nodded, flying off. "If you ever stepped foot in the Pride Lands again I wouldn't hesitate to kill you."

"I'd love to see you try." Jua taunted.

"Believe me you wouldn't." Vitani said.

"We know everything Jua. We know how you plan to take over the pride lands." Kopa said. "Killing off all males just to make it easier for yourself."

"Well it's worked up until now. Still It doesn't matter, at least you know what's coming, gives you time to come to terms with it." he growled.

"You will never hurt my son and you will never get the Pride Lands as long as I'm king." Kopa said.

"I know that, why do you think I killed all the others?" he laughed, walking over to Kopa slowly. "The Pride Lands will be mine and you can count on it. " he said walking around Kopa. "It really bothers you doesn't it, the fact that you can't live up to your dear old fathers standards." he taunted. "The only thing I regret is that I didn't do this sooner."

"Don't you dare mention my father in this!" Kopa shouted.

"Did I hit a nerve?" Jua taunted.

"Jua," Safi said, making everyone turn to her. "We didn't come here for this. You've made your point." she said, picking up Tamu in her mouth. Jua knew she was right and turned to Kopa one last time.

"The Pride Lands will be mine, but only when the time is right. For now nothing will happen." he said and that stunned Kopa, this he was not expecting. "Just make sure you keep your son away from my daughter, or I can guarantee an attack will be immediate." he threatened before turning away from Kopa and joining his family.

"That settles it then, from this point on our prides are at war." Kopa said, not seeing the pleased grin Jua had on his face. They watched them all walk away and all Tamu got to say to Leo and Amri was "Bye." before she too was out of sight. Both Leo and Amri hung their heads, knowing that after that it was unlikely they'd see Tamu again. Now they were enemies.

"You think he means it?" Vitani asked Kopa, who was still staring in the same place Jua had been. "Do you really think he's going to wait before he tries to take over?"

"I don't know but I do know he needs time for something. All I can do is keep an eye on the situation until that day comes." and he sighed heavily. "Now I have to break it to everyone that i just declared war. This day is going brilliantly for me." he said sarcastically. He went to leave and Vitani followed after him, ushering an awfully quiet Amri and Leo to follow.

* * *

It was evening now and across at Jua's Pride he was sitting alone, gazing up at the moon. It wasn't long though, before Safi joined, placing herself beside him.

"Tamu won't talk to anyone and she refused to eat some of the kill we got this morning." she informed him.

"She will, just give it time." he said without looking at her.

"Speaking of time, why are we now waiting to take control of the Pride Lands? we've never done this before." she questioned.

"Because Tamu is not ready, I am not ready. I need time to train her and make her see everything we've worked so hard for. When she comes of age and is ready to be apart of this pride, that is when we will begin our take over." he told her. "Besides right now we are too weak to take on the Pride Lands."

Safi scoffed at that and said "Weak? that is a word I never thought i'd hear come out of your mouth." Jua didn't show much of a reaction to that anyway.

"Her training will begin tomorrow and by the time I'm finished with her she will most definitely fight for our cause." he growled, slowly walking away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6  
10 Months Later...**

Ever since the declaration of war between the Pride Lands and the takeover pride, there has been little trouble concerning that issue. In that time a lot of things have changed, for example the cubs are grown up now and turning into restless adolescents. Leo and Amri have had no contact with Tamu and haven't seen her since that day, same with Shani who hasn't seen Cheza at all. Things are sure to get worse though, after all Kopa doesn't expect Jua's silence to last too long. But starting this day, Jua and his pride were set on putting their plan into action, after months of preparation. The same day Shani was about to go on her first hunt.

Most of the prides lionesses were waiting outside the den to give her some final words of encouragement. They weren't the only ones who were here for this special occasion, Rafiki had turned up and Timon and Pumbaa made sure they were present. Kopa himself was waiting at the end along with Vitani. He sighed heavily, since he'd been fearing this day for some time now.

"I don't know what you're so worried about. Shani's received plenty of advice from all of us, she'll be fine." Vitani said.

"I know it's just she's still young and inexperienced, she could get hurt." Kopa said. "I just wish they'd stayed cubs for a little longer." and Vitani smiled.

"Speaking of cubs, looks like Leo and Amri decided to do a little early morning hunt." Vitani mentioned.

"They did?" Kopa said, taken aback and Vitani nodded.

"He's just like you know." Vitani said with a laugh.

"Look there she is." one of the lionesses said as Shani finally exited the den. She looked much more mature now, with heightened features and her fur was a lovely light golden colour.

"Shani..." Rafiki said, bowing his head. Shani smiled and took a deep breath as she made her way down to her parents.

"Good luck Shani." some of the lionesses said as she passed them. "Look how much you've grown." they said. Once she got down Vitani immediately went over to her and nuzzled her warmly.

"You don't have to worry about a thing, you'll do just fine." she said. "Just remember what we taught you." and Shani nodded, smiling at her mother.

"Thanks mum." she said, then glanced over toward Kopa who was seemingly avoiding her glance.

"Dad..." she said and Kopa looked at her now. "You will let me do this by myself, won't you?" she asked. Kopa didn't know what to say but could see both she and Vitani were expecting an answer.

"Of course I will." he said and Shani's face lit up. She ran over to Kopa, her face beaming and nuzzled him under the chin affectionately. It was a happy site for the surrounding others to see and even Vitani looked on, happy to see them like that. Shani soon pulled away, smiling up at him before going to leave Pride Rock.

As she did, none other than Leo and Amri came rushing up, dragging the body of a small wildebeest with them. Both boys had grown up now, Leo's golden fur was now complimented by a thick maroon coloured mane that hung scruffily over the front of his head. Amri on the other hand now had a smooth dark brown mane.

"Hey sis thought we'd give you a little encouragement before your big day." Leo said, dropping the body of the wildebeest close to her feet.

"That's your idea of encouragement?" she questioned, glancing down at the wildebeest.

"It was his idea." Amri told her.

"I'm not surprised." she said, smiling.

"Shani," Kopa called out from behind them. "You should get going." he advised and Shani nodded.

"Good Luck Shani." Leo said as Shani left Pride Rock and ran into the grass. As Kopa watched her leave he couldn't help but feel the slightest bit worried. She was after all on her own, anything could happen to her. After the difficulties with sending Timon and Pumbaa after her, it's best if he uses another way. He knows he promised her but this is just to make sure she stays safe and he can have some piece of mind until she returns.

"Zazu," he called out.

"Yes sire?" Zazu said, flying over to him.

"Could you keep watch on Shani for me, I'd really appreciate it if someone was watching her while she's out today." he said. "But do make sure she doesn't see you."

"Of course sire and if anything happens I will come to you straight away." he said and Kopa thanked him. As Zazu took to the sky Leo went over and sat beside his father.

"You know if Shani finds out about this she won't be happy." he mentioned. "You know she doesn't like you treating her like that."

"It's a good thing she's not going to find out then. The only reason I'm doing this is to protect her." he explained.

"Yeah but don't you think it's just a little bit overprotective?" Leo said, stressing that last word. Kopa frowned at him and walked away, leaving Leo to his thoughts. Amri soon joined him, sitting down beside his cousin. Leo glanced at him and noticed he seemed really happy about something. "What's made you so happy?" he asked.

"Nothing, just it's such a beautiful day today isn't it?" he hinted, glancing up at the sky. Leo looked at him funnily wondering what on earth he was going on about.

"Amri are you ok? you're never this cheery." Leo noted.

"Well I just think on such a beautiful day we shouldn't be spending it stuck here at Pride Rock, we should be out having fun and maybe doing a little more hunting while we're at it." he suggested.

"Amri we just got back." Leo said.

"I know but Shani's out on her first hunt and the rest of the pride is always doing something important, so why not? they don't really need us around right now." Amri said.

"Guess you're right." Leo said.

"Great come on let's go before someone-"

"Someone what?" and both Leo and Amri froze. They both put on a fake up to nothing smile and turned around to see Kiara standing there, eyeing the two up carefully.

"Oh hey mum, Leo and I were just going to go to the waterhole for a bit." Amri said, nervously, saying the first thing that came to his mind. "All that hunting we did this morning made us really thirsty." he added in.

"Really, you two are just going to the waterhole. Why do I not believe that?" she questioned, looking between the pair of them.

"What are you talking about mum? you can always trust us." Amri said.

"Yeah we do keep our word. If we say we're going to the waterhole we're going to the waterhole." Leo said.

Kiara sighed, she knew these two better than that and she knew that sometimes it was best just to give in. "You'll be back before sunset won't you?" she asked.

"Of course, aren't we always?" Amri said, as if that was an insult.

"Off you go but don't go getting yourself into trouble you hear me?" she warned them and both boys nodded.

"Thanks mum we really appreciate it."Amri said going to leave. "Come on Leo." he gestured and Leo silently thanked his aunt before following after a rather eager Amri.

* * *

Atop a hill, overlooking part of the Pride Lands a much older Tamu, her brother Shari and father Jua, watched Princess Shani make her way towards a rather large herd of Wildebeest.

Jua grinned at the sight and turned to his children. "You know what you have to do?" he asked them.

"Yes father, the princess won't know what hit her." Tamu replied.

"Good and be sure not to ruin this opportunity. We've waited far too long for this and can't let anything get in the way of our mission." Jua said. "Ruining the princess's first hunt is your job, he will do the rest." he said, gesturing to both of them.

"You can count on us father." Shari said.

"Ok go now, there's no time to waist." Jua told them, they both nodded and leaped off the edge of hill, in the direction of where Shani was headed. As Jua watched them go he grinned, happily.

"Dear old Kopa you have no idea of what's about to hit you." he growled before turning away.

* * *

As a clueless Shani continued to make her way towards the wildebeest. She'd spotted her target, a rather small wildebeest, probably a calf. Starting small was her best option. However the calf was particularly close to its mother and from what both her parents have said, the mothers can get extremely angry if their young are threatened. She kept low in the grass, only moving when the mother's head was turned away from her.

When she'd finally got close enough she leapt out from the grass and sprung towards the young wildebeest. As expected the mother became extremely agitated and started thrashing herself around. Shani was lucky enough to avoid this outburst but just as she was about to go for it, the calf ran off along with its mother. She was speechless, staring after them. That was before she noticed two other wildebeest run past her, then a couple more. She looked around and her heart sank when she saw the whole herd of wildebeest running towards her in one big stampede.

Her first instinct was to run.

"Look at her run!" Shari laughed. He and Tamu were further down the herd and they'd been the ones to cause the stampede. The pair of them had agitated them enough to cause the panicked stampede.

Tamu rolled her eyes at her brother as she couldn't understand why he was so excited, when all they'd done was cause stampede.

"Shut up Shari it's not over yet." she said and Shari looked towards her. "We have to make sure he steps in." she said.

"I still don't see why dad didn't let either of us do it. Why he got some outsider I will never no." Shari said and Tamu rolled her eyes again.

Back where Shani was, she was struggling to keep a distance between herself and the stampede. Every time she looked around they seemed to be getting closer and that was not a good thing. She still had no idea what had caused the stampede but right now her first priority was to get out of the way unharmed. But when she saw Zazu fly down towards her she could not believe it.

"Princess!" he said flying alongside her as she continued to run.

"Zazu what are you doing here?" she demanded, frowning at the hornbill. Zazu didn't respond and Shani knew the answer. "My father sent you to keep watch on me didn't he?" she said.

"It's a good thing too princess, this stampede will be sure to trample you if you don't hurry ." Zazu said.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she said, angrily.

"I will get your father right away. Until then princess keep a good distance between yourself and the stampede."Zazu told her before flying away in the direction of Pride Rock. Shani couldn't believe her father had lied to her but she had bigger problems.

* * *

Back at Pride Rock the mood was seemingly peaceful. Most of the lionesses were relaxing in the shade, including Vitani. Kopa on the other hand couldn't help but pace the throne back and forth worrying about Shani. Timon and Pumbaa stood there, trying to convince him it would all be fine.

"Come on Kopa just relax, she's your daughter so if you ask me she should be fine." Timon said as Kopa walked passed them and then walked back the other way.

"How can you know that Timon?" Kopa asked, finally stopping and looking out across the pride lands.

"Well like I said she's your daughter and I'm sure she's inherited much of her strength and agility from you." Timon said and Pumbaa nodded in agreement.

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better." Kopa said.

"Sire!" they all heard and Kopa looked out to see a frantic Zazu flying towards him.

"Zazu what's the matter?" he asked.

"Sire there's a stampede down in the wildebeest territory, Shani is down there." Zazu informed him and Kopa froze. His worst fears had come true.

"No, Shani..." he said, looking horrified. Timon and Pumbaa were utterly speechless.

"I can take you to her." Zazu said.

"Kopa what's the matter?" Vitani said, from behind. She'd noticed something was wrong the moment Zazu flew over.

"It's Shani, she's in trouble."

* * *

In trouble she was. In the amount of time it had taken Zazu to reach Pride Rock, the stampede was gaining on Shani. Every time she turned to look around at them, it had slowed her down. Once she'd turned back around she just managed to jump over a fallen tree trunk, but the wildebeest weren't far behind. As she continued to run through the long grass her legs begun to give way. She'd been running non-stop and she was beginning to feel extremely tired.

But things were going from bad to worse. Just when Shani thought she'd managed to out run them she came to the edge of a cliff. She just managed to stop herself in time and gave a sigh of relief. But her heart sank when she turned around and saw the wildebeest heading straight for her. She had no where left to run. She completely froze, closing her eyes and bracing herself for impact. But she never felt it. Instead she heard this deafening roar, that even those at Pride Rock could've heard.

Curious and overwhelmed with relief, Shani slowly opened her eyes. She was stunned to see the wildebeest that had just been heading straight for her, were now running off in the other direction. It was then she noticed a pale furred lion with a light brown mane standing in front of her.

"It's ok you're safe now." he said, turning around to face her. Shani fully opened her eyes now as she gazed at the lion. Something about him seemed awfully familiar to her. The fact that he'd just scared off an entire herd of wildebeest stunned her but at the same time she couldn't believe how incredibly brave he'd been jumping in front of her like that.

"Thanks I thought they were going to hit me for a minute there." Shani said, smiling thankfully at the lion.

"No problem, really." he said smiling back and that's when she realised why he seemed too familiar to her. She frowned slightly studying every inch of that lion. When she'd finished she couldn't believe it.

"Cheza?" she questioned and the lion looked confused.

"Do I know you?" he asked, backing up a bit.

"Cheza don't you remember? It's me Shani, you know the princess." she said, absolutely sure this lion in front of her was Cheza. There was no doubt in her mind. "

It was now his turn to study her and he said nothing for a few seconds until a wide smile spread across his face.

"Shani?" he said. "I don't believe it is it really you?" he asked.

"Yes it's really me but what about you I can't believe it's really you." she said, happily. "I never thought I'd see you again." she told him.

"I know, still I can't believe that's the second time I've had to save your life and I didn't even know it was you." Cheza said, proudly. Shani became a little defensive, embarrassed to admit in front of him that things on her first hunt had gone wrong.

"Please I had everything under control." she said, straightening herself up. Cheza just laughed.

"You keep telling yourself that princess." he said, still laughing. Shani didn't take much notice of that comment since she couldn't take her eyes off him. She couldn't believe he was standing here in front of her after so long of being apart. He looked so grown up and powerful.

"So was this your first time hunting?" he asked.

"Yeah and it didn't go exactly to plan." she said, laughing nervously.

"I wouldn't worry about it but if I were you I'd try not to get caught up in stampedes." he advised.

"I'll be sure to remember that." she said. "Come on we should leave here I want to know what you've been doing since I last saw you." and she went to leave, Cheza following eagerly behind her. They walked through the grass side by side and Shani couldn't help but stare at him with admiration.

"Shani are you ok?" Cheza asked, noticing he seemed to have her undivided attention.

"Oh yeah I'm fine." she said, snapping out of it and turning away slightly shy.

"So how've you-" Cheza begun, but he was cut off by a loud roar. It shocked the pair of them and Cheza found himself standing in front of Shani protectively.

"Shani." they heard and both Kopa and Vitani sprung out of the grass with Zazu flying behind. Both were relieved to see their daughter unharmed. While Kopa stood firmly Vitani went over to Shani straight away.

"Shani, thank goodness you're ok." she said giving her an affectionate nuzzle. Shani was taken aback by her parents' sudden arrival; after all they'd interrupted a much anticipated reunion conversation. Stepping away from her mother Shani immediately went over to Kopa.

"You lied to me." She said, gaining his attention. "You promised me you'd let me do this on my own and then I find out you sent Zazu to keep an eye on me." she said, angrily.

"Kopa, you didn't?" Vitani questioned, disapprovingly and Kopa couldn't deny it.

"You don't understand. I had to know you were safe and if anything went wrong I'd be there in an instant." he explained. "You're safety means more to me than a promise and until I can be sure you're ready you will not be hunting again."

"What! but I was doing just fine on my own before the stampede happened." she argued. "Besides you wouldn't have had to worry because Cheza turned up and protected me." she said.

Kopa was about to say something when he noticed the other male standing beside his daughter. There was something familiar about him and when what Shani had said, registered in his mind he frowned at the lion. He remembered now, this was the young cub he'd seen her with before. But how is he still alive? He was a young cub on his own and no one there to protect him. With all the dangers out there how could he have grown up unharmed? Kopa immediately didn't trust him.

"Why did you save my daughter?" he asked, turning back to Cheza. "Something must've spooked the wildebeest or they wouldn't have formed a stampede." he said.

Cheza scoffed but reminded himself Kopa was the king and maybe he shouldn't have done that. He straightened himself up and put a serious look on his face.

"I have no idea what caused the stampede but I couldn't just let Shani get trampled by a stampede. I'd have done that for anyone, not just your daughter in particular." Cheza said but still Kopa was not convinced.

Seeing the angry frown upon her father's face, Shani decided to intervene.

"Maybe he should come back to Pride Rock with us." she suggested.

"What?" both Kopa and Cheza said together, both turning towards Shani in disbelief.

"Well he did save my life and he's never really had a place to call home so we should give him a place to stay." she pointed out and Cheza didn't know what to say.

"Absolutely not…" Kopa refused, turning back towards Cheza.

"Why not, I think it's a fitting reward for he did." Vitani added in, earning a thankful smile from Shani.

"I'm afraid the princess and queen are right sire. I had a similar conversation with your father once. Royal protocol states that all debts must be paid." Zazu informed him. Kopa groaned and begun pacing again. How could he just agree to something like this? Shani was clearly interested in him, which was evident from the way she was staring at him with admiration. That he didn't like and he found it rather strange that Cheza wasn't even voicing his own opinion on this.

"Kopa, he saved your daughter's life." Vitani reminded him as he continued to pace up and down. He was torn on this decision but despite his concerns he respected the laws put in place and if royal protocol says all debts must be paid then this time he's just going to have to go along with it.

He stopped pacing and turned to look at the others.

"I respect the law and for now you are welcome to stay with my pride." he said, reluctantly. Shani's face lit up with joy and Cheza was speechless.

"Thank you." Cheza said respectively, he wasn't expecting that. Kopa said nothing and turned back round. Vitani went over to him, seeing the slightly anxious look on his face.

"Don't look so worried." she whispered. "You've got Shani back on side now. Just look at this as bonding opportunity." she said. Kopa just sighed as they both turned over to see the beaming smiles across Shani and Cheza faces. For now he was going to keep his suspsions to himself, apart from her safety her happiness means alot to him too.

Shani couldn't believe her father agreed to let him stay at Pride Rock for a while but she couldn't help but think there was another reason behind it. She didn't think he was the type of King who'd give in to something like that so easily. Still, she'd think about that later. All the matters to her is that she gets to spend some much awaited time with Cheza.

"Shani, come on we should be heading home." Kopa called out as they begun to leave. Vitani followed behind him and Shani and Cheza were quick to follow, walking side by side the entire way back.

Little did they know, a rather pleased Shari and Tamu were watching them from above.

"I can't believe they fell for it." Shari said, almost laughing.

"Well he couldn't really say no to someone who'd saved his daughter, so if you ask me it was really obvious." Tamu said.

"Seriously Tamu did you see the look on the princess's face when he jumped in to save her? If you ask me she's got a little thing for him already." Shari laughed.

"For her sake I hope she doesn't." Tamu said under her breath so Shari didn't hear. He was too busy laughing to notice her silently slip away...


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 **

"I swear I had that one fair and square." Amri complained. He and Leo hadn't been far off from where the scene with Shani took place, but while that had been going on the boys had set up a little hunting competition to see who could grab a kill first. Neither of them had got one and Amri just couldn't believe he'd been so close to getting one but let it slip away.

"I thought you had it too but you slowed down and let it get away." Leo said. "You really need to work on your stamina if you want to be as good as me." Leo teased.

"As good as you huh, you are kidding right? You didn't get one either." he pointed out.

"Well that was only because I..." but Leo stopped, struggling to find the right words to say. "Well I..." he said again.

"Yeah you what?" Amri said and when Leo didn't respond, Amri grinned. "That's what I thought." he laughed.

Leo laughed sarcastically and said "Ha ha very funny but at least I managed to get the one from this morning."

"Please that was only a calf and it was singled out from its herd anyway." Amri said. "So if you ask me it was easy pickings for you, nothing like what we tried to do." he continued turning his back to Leo and walking ahead.

"Easy pickings eh?" Leo said growling and before Amri turned around Leo had already pounced on him and knocked him over.

"Oh so this is what you resort to when you lose an argument." Amri said and they both rolled around in the grass playfully, trying to attack each other. It wasn't until they rolled over and Amri pinned Leo to the ground, that they stopped. When his head had hit the ground he swore he saw movement up ahead.

"Amri, look do you see that?" he asked, still looking behind him.

"See what?" Amri asked, still in fight mode.

"Well if you get off me I can point it out to you." Leo said and Amri stepped off of him and Leo got back up onto his feet. He concentrated more on the what he'd seen and realised it was a lioness stalking a Zebra.

"Leo what is it?" Amri asked, tearing Leo away from the lioness.

"It's a girl, look." he said gesturing to the lioness up ahead. It didn't take Amri long to spot her and then both of them were completely mesmerised at the sight of this lioness.

"Look how close she is to that Zebra and it hasn't even spotted her." Leo whispered, impressed.

"I know, she looks like she ready to go for it." Amri said and both his eyes and Leo's were locked on to the image of this lioness up ahead. They watched on with awe as the lioness leapt out of the long grass and towards the zebra she'd been aiming for. It had started to run but the lioness was already too close to it and within a few seconds she'd grabbed what would be an excellent meal for her pride.

"I don't believe it, that didn't even look worth the effort for her." Amri said.

"I'm impressed, she didn't even need to run that far either." Leo said, amazed. "I'm going to go talk to her." he said.

"What?" Amri said, stunned.

"Well you saw her skills I just want to congratulate her on an excellent job." he said and before Amri could say another word he was gone, heading for the lioness. Amri groaned and followed after him, always the curious type.

* * *

Tamu sighed as she stared down at her successful Zebra kill. A bit of hunting had been just what she needed to cool off after helping her father implement his plan. She bent down and bit into the Zebra's neck, ready to carry it back home. But just as she started walking off with it a lion came out, grinning eagerly at her. She dropped the Zebra and stared at him.

"That's was a pretty good hunt." he said. "I've never seen such a good hunter before." he said, still grinning at her. "Well besides from my father of course." he muttered. Tamu rolled her eyes and went to pick up the Zebra again.

"Hey where are you going?" he asked.

Tamu sighed and turned back around. "I have to go somewhere I appreciate the comment but I don't have time for this." she said.

"Whoa wait a second." he protested and Tamu knew she was going to regret sticking around.

"What?" she asked.

"At least tell me your name." he said and Tamu was stunned.

"Why? it's not like I'll ever see you again." she said.

"How about if I tell you mine first then?" he suggested completely ignoring her comment. "I'm Leo the prince of the Pride Lands." he said. Tamu froze. He was Leo? Now she really needed to get out of here. But she couldn't tare herself away even though her mind was telling her not to stick around. She couldn't believe it, after all this time she's finally met up with him again.

Leo saw her distressed face and was confused as to why she looked that way after he'd only told her his name. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine but I really should be leaving now Leo." she said politely grabbing the Zebra. She was just about to leave when another familiar face appeared.

"Leo come on we should be getting back too." and Tamu turned around and the brown coloured fur was instantly recognizable. She knew this was Amri straight away. "Besides I don't think your charm is working on her." Amri said with a pleasurable smile across his face. He only glanced at Tamu for a second but then his expression changed and he turned back to face her in utter disbelief.

She was done for now. There was no chance of her getting away from here without one of them realising it's her. Amri just stared at her and it was making Tamu feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Hey Amri, I thought you said we should be heading back." Leo complained, seeing his cousins day dreaming gaze. Amri moved closer towards Tamu and she immediately backed off a bit in response.

Before he could think the words came streaming out of his mouth. "Tamu is that you?" he asked, quietly. She knew Amri would be the one to recognise her but she hadn't expected to meet both of them again today. More importantly if her brother actually went looking for her and he sees her with them, there's no telling what he'd interpret it as.

Leo scoffed and looked at Amri like he was insane. "Amri what are you talking about she can't be Tamu." he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Tamu sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. There was no use hiding it now, she was already too far into this.

"Well I see you haven't changed, you're still as arrogant as ever." she said and Amri smiled. Leo stared at her in utter shock. He couldn't believe it was her. She looked so grow up now, looking like a true lioness. But he'd accepted a long time ago that he'd never see her again because of the war, but seeing her again now, was something he'd not been prepared for. "Well you can stop staring at me you idiot." she said, trying to act normal.

"What? I wasn't staring." Leo said, shaking his head. He stepped back at bit and looked everywhere but at Tamu. An awkward silence took over and Amri did what he did best.

"So Tamu what are you doing here?" Amri asked and Tamu's heart sank. What was she supposed to say. Oh yeah I just came here to help my dad kick start his plan to take over your pride and I felt like doing a bit of hunting on the side. If she said that there's no telling what would happen. But she couldn't lie to them. She'd only just been reunited with them.

"I uh..." she said while trying to figure out what to say. "Well I..." she said again. Amri and Leo looked at each other before glancing back at Tamu. "I ran away from my pride." she said and as soon as she said that she wished she hadn't.

"Come again." Leo said.

"You heard me. I ran away from my pride." she said, frowning at him. Leo instantly didn't believe her. A smug grin appeared across his face as he walked up closer to her.

"Really and why's that?" he asked with a slight frown.

"Leo what are you doing? why would you ask that?" Amri said, confused.

"Relax Amri, I just want to see if the Tamu we knew is still there." Leo told him. "So why did you run away?" he asked walking all the way around her. Tamu couldn't believe the situation she'd put herself in. She was doing the one thing she didn't want to but now she had no choice.

"I left my pride because I couldn't be a part of what my father was doing. He gave me an ultimatum and I chose to leave. Happy now?" she questioned after seeing the smirk across Leo's face. She didn't know why but every time he looked at her she felt a warm, fuzzy feeling sweep over her.

"It's good to see you again Tamu." Leo said, sitting down. She blinked at him, unsure if he really meant it.

"It's good to see you too, I guess." she said.

"I can't believe you ran away." Amri said. "After all this time you finally stood up to your father."

"Well I'm older now and I understand more things now than I did then." Tamu replied. she glanced up at the sky and noticed it's orangey colour. The sun was going down and she needed to be back soon or the others will get suspicious and she can't risk that. "I should get back to my den now it's getting pretty late." she said, once again picking up the Zebra.

Amri and Leo also looked to the sky and realised perhaps it was time if they made their way back too.

"It was great to see you boys again." she muttered going to leave.

"Wait, will we see you again?" Leo asked before she ran off. Tamu turned round even though she was carrying a zebra in her mouth, and managed to force a smile.

"Maybe." she said and that was her last word before she disappeared in the other direction, leaving Amri and Leo completely awestruck. They both continued to stare at the place she had just been.

"I can't believe that's really her." Leo said.

"She looks so grown up." Amri commented. Leo saw his cousins dreamy expression and scoffed.

"Seriously Amri? even with what's going on with our prides you still feel that way about her?" Leo questioned.

"Yes, what's so wrong with that?" Amri said.

"Well for one it's a war and she's still the enemy, we can't be too careful." he said. Amri rolled his eyes and ignored his cousin as the pair begun making their way back to Pride Rock, with Tamu still on their minds.

* * *

On their way back both Leo and Amri had agreed to not mention anything about their little reunion with Tamu. At the moment things were as peaceful as they were going to get and what's the harm in making that last a little longer. They arrived back just in time, walking up the entrance side by side.

"It's been ten months since we've seen her, that's a long time and people can change." Leo whispered to Amri who still couldn't understand why Leo hadn't been convinced by what Tamu had told them. But for the time being the subject of Tamu and her 'suspicious' reappearance was going to have to wait. Leo fully turned around now and his eyes widened when he saw an unfamiliar pale furred lion talking to his sister.

"Who is that?" Leo asked, frowning.

"How am I supposed to know?" Amri said.

"Dad why is there a strange lion talking to Shani?" Leo yelled out and that gained the attention of both Shani and Cheza while also waking Kopa up from a much needed sleep.

"That..." Kopa yawned, standing up and going over to his son. "Is Cheza, he's going to be staying here for a while." Kopa explained.

"Why's that?" Leo asked, glancing at his father.

"He saved your sister from a wildebeest stampede this morning and this is me repaying that debt." he said and Leo noticed the look of discomfort on his face.

"Is Shani ok?" Amri asked.

"She's fine, in fact she's the one who came up with the idea to let him stay here." Kopa said.

"You don't look so happy about that." Leo pointed out.

"Oh believe me I'm not but you have her and your mother to thank for that." Kopa said and Leo gave a small laugh before noticing Shani and Cheza walking towards them. Kopa walked off immediately, still not happy about the situation he created.

"Don't tell me dads still angry." Shani said, sighing heavily.

"No he's not angry." Leo said. "Just a little uncomfortable." he said thinking that was the best word to describe him right now.

"Anyway Cheza, this is my twin brother Leo and this is my cousin Amri." she said, introducing them to Cheza.

"I hear you saved my sister from a stampede." Leo said and Cheza nodded, about to say something when Leo cut over him. "How exactly did you do that?" he asked.

"Leo!" Shani said, shooting him an angry look. "As if I want to be reminded of the thing that ruined my day." she said. Leo and Amri both laughed including Cheza, instantly earning a sign of approval from the boys.

* * *

Night had now fallen over the Pride Lands and most of the pride was making their way into the den, ready for sleep. After this long day Kopa himself, was looking forward to a good night's sleep. But as he made his way towards the entrance of the den he saw Cheza following after Shani. He may have allowed him to stay here but that doesn't mean he has to like it.

He went over to the pair of them and growled at Cheza.

"Father!" Shani complained but Kopa beckoned for her to go into the den. She groaned as she walked away and Kopa stood firmly in front of Cheza.

"Is there a problem?" Cheza said.

"You know there is. The only reason you're here is because of Shani. Let me get something very clear..." Kopa said going right up to him now. "I don't trust you."

"I don't know what I've done to make you not trust me." Cheza said, confused.

"You were a young cub out on his own with no one to protect you. With all the dangers out there I'm struggling to see how you survived for so long." Kopa said.

"Maybe I was just good at avoiding trouble." Cheza replied, smugly.

"Yes or there's more to you then you're letting on." Kopa said. "I'm starting to think the latter." A strange silence took over in which Cheza let nothing show. "You stay away from my daughter. When I said I didn't trust you I also meant I didn't trust you around her. If I find out you've hurt her in any way you'll be sorry." he told him.

"Well I can assure you my attentions are not to hurt her, I'd never do that." he said and Kopa could tell there was some truth to that. But it didn't change the fact there was something about him that bothered Kopa and the only reason he was letting him stay here was so he could figure that out.

"We'll see." Kopa said before walking, slowly into the den. Cheza didn't feel completely threatened about what he'd said but still, he'd need to figure out a way around that. He didn't seem to notice Shani coming up in front of him. She'd seen her father enter with a concerning frown and had to get Cheza's side of the story.

"Hey," she said. "What was that about?" she asked.

"Nothing, he was just warning me not to hurt you and to keep away from you." he told her.

"Don't listen to him, just leave my father to me." she said. "Anyway while you're here, I was going to ask you if you'd like to come out hunting with me tomorrow morning." she asked with a hopeful smile. "Since my first attempt didn't go to plan, you might be useful to have around this time."

"Of course but I don't think your father would like that after what he just said to me." Cheza said.

"Well my father doesn't have to know. We could go early in the morning and be back before they even wake up." she said.

Cheza smiled and said "Whatever you say princess." Shani grinned happily and both proceeded back into the den for sleep. They'd need it after all.

* * *

Around that time in the land of Jua's pride Tamu had only just returned to her pride. Her reunion with Leo and Amri was still playing heavily on her mind so much so, she didn't notice half the eyes of her pride were on her as she returned.

"Tamu!" Jua shouted, jumping down off of the large rock where he usually slept. Tamu looked up sharply after hearing her name and dropping the zebra on the ground. Jua walked over to her shortly followed by Tamu's mother Safi.

"Where have you been? it's night already." Jua said. "I specifically told you not to wonder off from your brother."

"I know father but I had to keep an eye on Cheza's activities before I left." she explained.

"Good, you'll need to be watching him closely now. We need to make sure he's on our side." Jua said.

"After what you told him I'm sure he is." Safi said. "Cubs can be so gullible."

"Well we needed someone to get close enough to Kopa and bring him down from the inside..." he said glancing over at Shari. "I know he's my son but he's not exactly suited for the job." and he turned back round. " A little white lie was all I needed to convince him."

"What did you tell him?" Tamu asked. This is the first she's heard this.

Jua grinned and said "I told him the one responsible for his parents death was a member of Kopa's pride. It doesn't matter who specifically because all he cares about is extracting his revenge on Kopa himself. It also cemented his loyalty to us and his will to get vengeance for his parents." he explained.

Tamu could not believe it. When she saw her father bring a lonely cub into the pride, not shortly after Kopa's declaration of war, she never expected he'd be used in such a way. But there was nothing she could do about that now. She'd learnt a long time ago that if you can't beat them, join them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 **

"Hey dad I'm going out for a while." Leo said rushing past Kopa.

"Again? you've already been out today." Kopa said, frowning. A few days have passed since Cheza came to the pride and ever since Kopa's noticed his son behaving strangely. He's been spending a lot of time away from pride rock and when he comes back he doesn't tell anyone where he's been and just simply replies "nowhere special." but Kopa's been around too long to believe something like that.

"I know but I promise I won't be long." Leo called out and Kopa couldn't say anything to stop him. He groaned as he watched Leo sprint away from Pride Rock. At a time like this he really didn't like the fact that he was keeping something from him. Secrets had, had enough presence in his life already.

Thinking about it Amri probably knew something about what was going on with him. Those two were inseparable and even though he didn't like to admit it Amri was closer to him than he was.

"Zazu," he called. "Where's my nephew?" he asked the hornbill.

"I'm not sure sire he hasn't been seen since this morning." Zazu said. Kopa's eyes widened. That was strange, Amri wasn't usually the type to leave Pride Rock for a whole day. Something was definitely going on and he needed to find out what it was.

"Zazu find out where they are and inform me as soon as you do." Kopa ordered.

"Of course Sire." Zazu said and off he flew. Kopa sighed heavily. With the continuing threat from Jua's Pride It wasn't comforting to know both his son and his nephew were spending a lot of time away from Pride Rock. As he sat there thinking to himself he didn't know that a vengeful looking Cheza was behind him, watching him.

Now was the perfect opportunity to strike, he was alone, no one else was around. He stepped forward, growling quietly, only thing was he wasn't counting on Shani to turn up at that exact moment. She jumped down in front of him, startling him.

"Hey what you doing?" she asked playfully.

Cheza calmed himself and put on a brighter expression.

"Nothing much." he replied.

"Well..." she began walking past him. "Since you're not doing much maybe now would be a great time for you to give me that hunting lesson you promised." she suggested.

Cheza's eyes widened and he looked back at Kopa reminding himself of that task he set himself. But then he glanced back at Shani and saw her looking at him with such admiration and eagerness. He sighed heavily. That would have been the perfect opportunity but he can't refuse Shani when he did promise her.

"Sure..." he said, looking over at her. "Why not." Shani grinned at him and ran off ahead.

"Cheza, come on." she said laughing happily. Cheza smiled back and couldn't help but think of her beautiful her laugh was. She seemed so full of life and he loved that about her. Even when they'd first met as cubs he noticed how true that was. He ran after her and once he caught up the two of them walked side by side as they left Pride Rock.

* * *

As Zazu flew through the sky he kept watch for any sign of the prince and Amri. During his time as majordomo he has never seen such a mischievous prince as Leo. Thinking about it Kopa was exactly the same when he was young and Simba too. To him it seemed as though it escalated through the generations. But he can't complain now, after all those cubs had turned into great kings and Leo's surely going to follow in their footsteps.

While still in his thoughts Zazu was distracted by playful laughter. He looked down and saw a lioness running through the grass. She stopped and was soon joined by two male lions. One with golden fur and the other with dark. It took Zazu a while to realise the lions were Leo and Amri.

"Oh my..." he gasped. He flew down lower and into a tree just beside them so he could listen in.

"Tamu I have to hand it to you that was a good one." Amri said bursting with laughter. Leo on the other hand was looking rather annoyed at the pair of them.

"I can't believe you fell for that." Tamu said laughing along with Amri.

"Is that all I am to you two just a big joke?" he responded harshly. Amri and Tamu stopped laughing upon hearing his somewhat angry response.

"Leo calm down it was just a bit of fun." Amri said.

"Yeah fun for you two." Leo said and he went to leave.

"Oh come on Leo don't be like that." Tamu said, calmly, try to hide the smile on her face.

"No I will be like that. You know sometimes I wonder why I even come along, you two would be just fine without me you really have a lot in common." he said. "One of them being playing jokes on me." he finished, walking off now.

Zazu gasped again. He couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed. Leo's behaviour was normal, as it is for any adolescent lion his age. That wasn't it. The thing that shocked Zazu the most was that fact that he'd just witnessed both Leo and Amri with Tamu, the daughter of Jua. This concerned him a lot.

Immediately Zazu took to the sky, flying back to Pride Rock to inform Kopa of what he'd seen. Being the king and Leo's father he'd need to know this.

* * *

Zazu's arrival was timely back at Pride Rock. Kopa had been talking with Vitani before he arrived about Leo acting strange and not being able to bond with him. He was just about to say something when Zazu interrupted.

"I'm sorry for interrupting sire but I have something you need to know." Zazu said, landing at their feet.

Vitani looked at Kopa and frowned slightly. "What did you do?" she asked.

"I sent him to go and find out where Leo keeps running off too." he said without fully looking at her.

"Kopa..." Vitani said disapprovingly.

"Sire..." Zazu said again and both Kopa and Vitani turned towards him.

"Go on Zazu." Kopa said.

"I did indeed find out where young prince Leo and Amri had been going too. They had been meeting with a lioness." he told them. "Not just any lioness, they referred to her as Tamu sire."

Kopa and Vitani's eyes widened. They looked at each other before glancing back at Zazu.

"Are you sure it was her?" Vitani asked.

"Yes I'm certain." Zazu replied. Kopa, turned away, momentarily troubled by this news.

"I don't believe it." Vitani said.

Kopa frowned and glanced over at her.

"I can't believe I didn't realise that." he said. "It all makes sense now." and he walked back over to her. "Thank you Zazu you may leave now." he said. Zazu nodded and flew off.

"Kopa what's going on?" Vitani questioned.

"The day of Shani's first hunt, the stampede was caused by something that had spooked them. Leo and Amri had gone out that same day, so Tamu must've already been in the Pride Lands when they reunited with her. I know that herd of wildebeest, nothing would cause such a stampede unless they'd felt threatened by an unfamiliar predator." he said.

"What are you saying?" Vitani asked even though she knew where he was going with this.

"I'm saying that Tamu was responsible for the stampede and she must've stuck around after woods because Leo and Amri must've met her that day." he explained and Vitani could see how concerned he was over this. "More importantly, if Tamu's reappeared in the Pride Lands that means Jua's already begun his plan to try and take over."

"But Kopa it doesn't make sense, how would he have known Shani would have her first hunt on that particular day and why threaten her in the first place?" she questioned.

"He wasn't threatening her Tani he was threatening me. It was him saying he's ready and he's not going to give up without a fight. He instigated it and his daughter carried it out."

Vitani didn't want to admit it but it all made perfect sense. This struggle between the prides had now truly begun.

* * *

Night was slowly closing in around the Pride Lands and despite knowing she should probably return home soon, Tamu refused to give up on her search for Leo. After what happened earlier he'd gone off on his own without telling them where he was going. She wanted to at least find him and make sure nothing bad had happened to him. He'd been in a foul mood when he'd left and it was partly her fault so an apology would be a good idea too.

It wasn't long before she found him, sitting atop a small mound in the grass gazing up at the stars. She approached him slowly but stood on a twig and attracted his somewhat startled attention.

"Relax scaredy cat it's just me." she said jokingly but she could see he wasn't in the mood. She walked over and sat down next to him. Neither of them said anything and it was silent apart from the sound of the many crickets in the grass. "Amri went back to Pride Rock since he had to get back so I told him I'd find you and hopefully you'd be back soon after." she said, breaking the awkward silence between them.

Leo said nothing. "Ok are you seriously still mad about what happened earlier?" she asked. "It was just a bit of fun, if you ask me you need to learn how to loosen up." she said, finally saying those words.

"I'm not mad about that anymore. I was but I'm over it now." he said.

"Then what's the matter because you still look mad?" she asked.

Leo sighed and said "I just wish we didn't have to keeping meeting up like this." that caught Tamu by surprise. "If you left your pride why not join mine?" he asked. Tamu was taken aback by this and didn't know what to say.

"You really think your father would welcome me into your pride? I'm still the daughter of the lion that wants to destroy the Pride Lands somehow I don't think he'll see past that." Tamu said being rather reasonable, mainly because she hadn't run away from her pride at all.

"But if you explain to him what happened he might." he said.

"Why are you getting all worked up over this?" she asked backing away a bit.

Leo widened his eyes and turned his head back around sharply.

"I just wish things didn't have to be like this." he sighed, bowing his head. Tamu saw how solemn he looked and didn't like to see him like that. She thought to herself for a few seconds and sighed. She couldn't believe she was about to do this. She was digging herself a deeper hole, all because of boy. Pathetic in her eyes but she couldn't help it, Leo brings out a side to her she hasn't seen in a very long time.

"Well maybe they don't." she said. Leo looked round at her, slightly confused.

"What?" he asked.

"Maybe you're right I mean it's better than living in the wilderness of the Pride Lands. But you can't guarantee your father will let me join your pride." she said.

For a moment Leo couldn't quite believe what she'd just said but when he'd taken it all in a huge grin spread across his face and it made Tamu happy to see him like that.

"I know but just trust me on this." he said and Tamu didn't know why but she felt like she could trust him with anything.

* * *

Rafiki sat in his tree that night nibbling on a fruit off the tree, he was about to take another bite when he found the fruit was no longer in his hand. He looked around and found it on the ground behind him. He sighed and went over to go and pick it when a strong wind blew past him and blew the half eaten fruit further away from him. He went to pick it up again but instead the wind blew it right off the tree.

Rafiki groaned before realizing what was going on. He was about to head back into the tree when he saw two lions moving through the grass. He looked a little closer and realised one of them was Leo. As he looked on he saw his was with a lioness and it didn't take him long to figure who that lioness was.

"Well, well..." Rafiki said with a smile. "Rafiki does believe he see's..." but he was cut off by a an all too familiar wind. "Oh what now Simba?" Rafiki said flapping his hands wildly above him. Rafiki listened on. "I know Simba it seems our young Leo has found his own way to..." but then Simba told him something that shocked him to the core and with Rafiki that doesn't happen often. "No..." Rafiki gasped. "That can't be..."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

It was a complete shock to everyone that night when Leo returned to Pride Rock with Tamu in tow. The pride had just been making their way into the den for sleep when Kopa had spotted them. His attention quickly drew the others attention and some of the lionesses begun whispering among themselves. Also present were Amri, Shani and Cheza who looked rather uncomfortable.

Leo begun to feel extremely nervous as he approached his extremely concerned father. He looked to his right to see Tamu looked as calm as ever, which to him felt strange seeing as she's causing the disturbance.

Kopa didn't know what to make of it. The sight of his son walking alongside Jua's daughter was not something he expected to see tonight. Frowning, Kopa walked over to them. He saw the uncomfortable look across Leo's face and the seemingly relaxed look on Tamu's.

"What is going on?" he asked. "Why have you brought her here?" Kopa demanded to know and he looked directly at his son when he said that.

Tamu looked up at Kopa and had to admit his strong, defensive looking stance was rather intimidating. She glanced further back to see the lionesses of the pride watching from behind. Almost every one of them was looking at her and she'd expected this to happen the moment she agreed to Leo's suggestion.

"Dad, please before you freak out just listen. There's a perfectly good reason for me bringing Tamu here." Leo explained. "Will you hear her out?" he asked.

Why would I do that? Kopa asked himself. She's the daughter of the lion that's trying to take my pride from me, she's the enemy and there's no reason I have to feel obliged to hear her out.

"No." he said plainly. "What do you think you're doing bringing her back here? are you that naïve Leo." he said before turning to Tamu.

"You, I don't know what you're playing at but I want you away from my pride and out of the Pride Lands. You can tell your father whatever he's got planned, it's not going to work." he said.

"Well I would if I actually lived with my pride anymore." Tamu replied. Kopa's eyes widened for a second before frowning again.

"What are you talking about?" he questioned her.

"I ran away from my pride a couple of days ago. I couldn't be a part of what my father was doing. He gave me an ultimatum and I chose to leave. Believe it or not that's the truth." she lied but she did have a knack for being very convincing.

Kopa didn't know whether she was telling the truth or not. It's not what he expected from Jua's daughter. She'd run away from her pride because she couldn't be a part of what her father was doing. For some reason he actually believed that part. Still it was a shock, something he didn't expect to have to deal with all in one night. Kopa said nothing as he studied her briefly. He might half believe her but she's still the enemy and he can't be so quick to trust her, regardless of the circumstances.

"So seeing as she's not part of her pride anymore I...we want to know if she can join ours." Leo asked, already frightened at his father's response. Kopa turned his head towards his son sharply. That he had not seen coming but his answer was obvious.

"No." he said, turning away. Tamu had more than expected that.

"You know, you don't have to decide straight away. "Tamu said and Kopa stopped. "I know you don't trust me and I don't blame you for it either. Just give me some time and you'll find out who I really am. In the end if you still don't trust me you can send me away and I won't object." she said.

Ok, Kopa thought, now she was definitely giving him something to think about. What is she playing at? he asked himself. She's put me in such a place that I have no choice but to agree. However, he did agree that what she was proposing was reasonable. He didn't trust her now but if he agreed to her proposal then he could come to.

"You have one week before I make my decision. We'll see who you really are." he said and Tamu grinned. Kopa turned away and ushered the others back into the den. Leo couldn't believe what had just happened. He hadn't expected that at all, still he was glad. Amri soon came rushing over, overjoyed that Kopa had agreed. Next to him, Cheza was not so happy.

"Well I'm going in, are you coming?" Shani asked Cheza.

"Uh yeah I'll be in, in second." he said. Shani smiled and followed the rest of her pride in. That had been the most interesting thing she'd seen all day

* * *

It was rather late now and after the evenings spectacle, the pride was now fast asleep. Well, everyone except Cheza and Tamu. She'd left the den that night and Cheza saw that as a perfect opportunity to go and have a private conversation with her and ask her what she was playing at. He crept out, careful not to wake the others around him. As she sat down outside, gazing at the night sky, he came up behind her.

"What are you playing at?" he asked and she turned around, not expecting him. "This wasn't part of the plan. We agreed the one of the inside would be me, not you." he said, trying to keep his voice low.

Tamu sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I know this isn't part of the plan but I can tell you have a soft spot for the princess. I'm simply making sure that doesn't cloud your mind." she replied.

"It won't cloud my mind because I don't have a soft spot for her." he denied, frowning at her. Tamu scoffed at that, not believing one word of it. "Tell me, does your father even know what you're doing?" he questioned.

Tamu flinched but didn't answer.

"If he doesn't, you're lying to both prides and you're going to ruin the plan." he said.

"Would you relax." she said, turning to face him. "I know what I'm doing."

"Now why don't I believe that?" Cheza said and Tamu scowled at him. "You might think I have a soft spot for Shani but I can tell there's a whole different reason you're here. I know it has something to do with Leo." he said.

Tamu continued to scowl at him until he walked off, leaving her to think about what he said. She knew she was making this whole thing worse and that was all because of that white lie she'd told Leo. Knowing that, there was no point in walking away from it all now, she was too deep into it now. She did no however, that she'd have to face the consequences all by herself when she was found out.

* * *

In the land of Jua's pride, morning was slowly approaching. Jua himself woke up before the rest of his pride that morning. Last night it had been obvious to him that his daughter Tamu had not returned. He knew she wasn't stupid enough to stay out all night so that told him something was wrong and that it could only mean one thing.

By the time the sun had risen she was still not back. Safi, Tamu's mother could see the concern upon her mates face and she felt it too. Anxious about why she had not returned to the pride, Jua sent Safi and his son Shari to go and find her and he told them to go straight to the pride lands. There was no doubt in his mind that that's where she was, considering she would always run off there when she was younger.

Safi and Shari left the pride, not knowing what they'd find when they caught up to Tamu.

* * *

Back at Pride Rock as day settled in, most of the pride was relaxing after a successful morning hunt. Kopa, himself was about to settle down when he noticed a figure approaching. It didn't take him long to realise it was Rafiki. Confused about why he'd turned up in the middle of the day, Kopa went down to greet him. As he approached he could see the solemn across his face. Instantly he knew something was wrong. Rafiki wouldn't just turn up here in the middle of the day if it wasn't important.

"Rafiki," he said. "What's the matter?"

Rafiki sighed heavily and said "Theres a matter I need to discuss with you and the queen, privately." he emphasised. Kopa nodded before going off to find Vitani. As soon as he did, they went to the back of Pride Rock to discuss it and Rafiki wished he did not have to tell them this. The news he'd recieved from Simba the previous night had troubled him and he struggled to believe how such a thing can happen. Still, as much as it troubled him they needed to be aware of what was to come.

"What's this about Rafiki?" Kopa asked, as he and Vitani sat down opposite him.

"Last night Rafiki recieved a visit from your father." he said. "He informed him of something terrible." Kopa and Vitani glanced at each other before looking back at Rafiki. "A great tragedy is about to befall the pride lands and it concerns the defection of a lion in this pride." he told them and their eyes widened in shock. "He told Rafiki the defection will be caused by jealousy and the consequences will be devastating." he finished, looking rather upset to be telling them this.

After letting the news sink in, Kopa asked the important question.

"Rafiki, who is it?" he asked. Rafiki looked up at him, his heart filling with sorrow as he told him.

"The lion, is Amri..."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

After Rafiki's revelation both Kopa and Vitani were speechless. They didn't know what to make of it. How could Amri do such a thing? out of every lion in this pride he was the one they least expected. Vitani was in shock and shook her head at Rafiki.

"No, he would never do something like that." she protested.

"Rafiki realises how you must feel but it is the truth." he said, looking very distressed himself.

"Kopa, you can't believe he would do something like that." Vitani said, noticing his silence. Kopa didn't believe he could do something like that, but Rafiki seemed convinced it was him and he wouldn't lie about something like this. As king he has to heed this warning.

"I don't, but you heard what he said, it's caused by jealousy. Even that can do a lot to a lion like Amri." he told her.

"Rafiki suggests you keep a close eye on Amri encase he shows any signs of defection." Rafiki suggested. "Rafiki wished not to tell you but it was too important to ignore." he said.

"We understand." Kopa said and he nodded.

After Rafiki left, this revelation was still playing on Kopa's mind. While watching Rafiki leave, Kopa made the decision to inform Kiara and Kovu straight away. No doubt they'd say the same thing he and Vitani had, perhaps worse. He went off to the find them, wanting to get it over with, only to find that Vitani had beaten him to it. He could hear Kovu's roar almost instantly. That sort of reaction was more than expected.

"No! he would never do something like that. I don't believe it." Kovu said, angrily.

"I can't either but we have to take this seriously." Vitani said.

"Kovu," Kopa said, walking over to the three of them. "Tani's right. None of us want to believe that he could do something like that but Rafiki wouldn't lie. If he's concerned about this than we all should be." he said.

"I don't care. I know my son, he would never do such a thing." Kovu argued.

"Amri wouldn't let something like jealousy get to him." Kiara said. Considering the situation Kiara remained calm and spoke softly.

"I know." Kopa sighed.

"Listen, we're not going to rush into anything but we just need to keep a close eye on him, that's all." Vitani said.

"No one's accusing him of doing anything right now. You just need to be aware, we all do." Kopa told them, sternly. Kiara and Kovu glanced at each other before looking back at Kopa and Vitani. As much as they didn't want to believe this they trusted Kopa and knew he was right.

"Fine." Kovu sighed. "I still don't think he'd do something like that." he said before walking off in a irritated mood. Kiara bowed her head and sighed heavily. She hadn't expected to hear that today. Kovu's reaction was obvious though.

"I'm sorry." she said.

"You don't need to apologize Kiara, his reaction was understandable." Kopa said, looking at his sister softly. Kiara forced a gentle smile at her brother before walking off to join Kovu.

* * *

Amri sat, lounging in the shade at the front of Pride Rock. He yawned and stood up, stretching a little. As he glanced below, he saw Shani approaching along with that lion Cheza. He laughed at the sight of them because after all, Shani had been spending every waking moment with him since he got here. He wondered if she knew that others could clearly see the feelings she had for him, they were written all over her face. As they came up Cheza went off in the other direction. Shani immediately noticed Amri as she came up onto Pride Rock.

"Hey Amri." she said.

"Hey, you and lover boy have a nice day?" he teased. Shani looked taken aback but smiled nervously at him.

"Don't let my dad catch you saying that." she said. "He might take you seriously."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he knows already, it's quite obvious Shani." he told her.

"Yeah I know but I don't think he sees it though." she said, looking a little disappointed. Suddenly she grinned and said "I wonder if that Tamu can see how much you like her." she said and it was Amri's turn to be taken aback.

"What are you talking about? I'm just happy she was allowed to stay." he said.

"Yeah I know but It's not hard to notice how much you like her." Shani said and Amri looked away, slightly embarrassed.  
"Is it that obvious?" he asked, looking back at her.

"Yes." Shani laughed. "I suggest if you like her that much, you should get to know her a bit you know, spend some more time with her. She's only here for a week so I'd get to it if I were you." she told him.

"You really think so?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yep, you never know what might happen." she said.

"Thanks Shani." Amri said with a smile. An idea had just come to mind, thanks to Shani. He soon walked off with the intention of carrying out his idea. Shani watched him leave and smiled at him as he did.

"So, you're back." she turned around, sharply to find her dad standing behind her. She didn't know how long he'd been standing there but it didn't really matter. "I was beginning to think you'd spend all day with him." Kopa said, saying the word 'him' with a hint of disapproval. Shani rolled her eyes.

"You know he does have a name dad." she said.

"Yes and ever since he's been here you can't stop talking about him." he said. Suddenly he turned sincere and walked closer towards her. "I hardly get to see you." he said. His relationship with Shani was still strained, but was improving at a slow pace. "Whenever I find you you're either with him or off doing something with him."

"I just asked him to accompany me on my hunting practice. He's helping me out." she explained.

"Well couldn't you have just asked me or your mother?" he questioned.

"I could have, but one you never have time and two mums always off with the hunting party anyway." she said. "Neither of you are ever around." she reminded him.

"You know I can always make time Shani. All you need to do is ask." Kopa said. "How about I take you out tomorrow, just you and me." he suggested.

"Ok but only if Cheza can come too." she said, grinning cunningly.

Kopa sighed. "I'd rather it was just you and me Shani. Cheza can entertain himself for once." he said spitefully. Shani rolled her eyes and realised getting him to agree to Cheza coming along was impossible.

"Fine." she said and Kopa smiled.

"Great." he said. He thought he'd never get her to agree to that.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far from Pride Rock, Tamu was walking amongst the long grass. Leo was with her, seeing as he wanted to spend as much time with her as he could before the week was up. As they walked side by side he continued talking to her but she wasn't really listening, seeing as she was too distracted thinking about what she'd done, these past few days. She still couldn't believe Kopa had actually agreed to the deal she proposed. She'd expected him to send her away immediately, but no he'd actually agreed to it. That told her he must've believed her story.

"Hey, Tamu?" Leo said, dragging her out of her thoughts. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking about things." she said, smiling up at him.

"You looked a little spaced out." he noted. "Are you sure?" he asked again.

She rolled her eyes and said "I'm fine, you don't need to be so concerned about me." but deep down she kind of liked that he was. "Anyway are you going to tell me where we're going?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, there's some friends I'd like you to meet." Leo said, running off ahead. She followed after him and he speed enabled her to catch up to him with ease. He looked taken aback as she overtook him.

"Come on slow poke!" she laughed. Leo wasn't going to let her get the better of him that easily. He picked up his pace and managed to catch up with her. "That's more like it." she said once he was running beside her. Since they were too distracted neither of them noticed the two figures of Timon and Pumbaa up ahead. Leo, got a bit too over excited.

"Wait Leo stop." Tamu said stopping herself.

"As if I'm going to fall for that." he said. Only as he turned around did he see Timon and Pumbaa. Unfortunately he couldn't slow down and went crashing into them, knocking Pumbaa over and Timon off Pumbaa onto the ground. Tamu flinched before walking over to them.

"Leo!" Timon shouted. He stood up and dusted himself off, looking up at the adolescent lion in anger. "A simple hello would do , not knocking us over!"

"Sorry guys I didn't see you there." Leo said, apologetically. He quickly stood up, not liking the angry look across Timon's face at all.

"Don't worry about it." Pumbaa said, standing up. Timon groaned and jumped back on top of Pumbaa, sitting in his customary position atop his head.

"Leo are you okay?" Tamu asked. Pumbaa and Timon immediately looked over at the young lioness. They'd never seen her before, in fact they'd never seen Leo with a lioness other than his sister before.

"Yeah I'm fine." Leo said. Timon coughed, gaining their attention.

"Well aren't you going to introduce us Leo?" Timon asked.

"Oh yeah Tamu this is Timon and Pumbaa the two friends I wanted you to meet."Leo said, gesturing to Timon and Pumbaa. "Timon, Pumbaa this is Tamu. She's staying at Pride Rock for a couple of days." he explained.

Tamu? that name seemed familiar to the pair of them. Timon swore she was the daughter of that despicable Lion Jua. If that was true then why has Kopa allowed her to stay at Pride Rock? Timon and Pumbaa glanced at each other before looking back at Tamu and Leo. Even though they knew who she was they could see that didn't bother Leo so it didn't bother them.

"It's lovely to meet you." said Pumbaa.

"Likewise." Tamu said. "I've never heard of lions befriending a warthog and a meerkat before."

"Yeah well Timon and Pumbaa go way back with my family. They were friends of my grandfather, Simba." Leo told her.

"I see." she said.

"Well you two couldn't have turned up at a more perfect time." Timon said. "Follow us." he said and Pumbaa walked off, with Tamu and Leo following behind. They came to a small hill where tones of birds had flocked. Some flew above them, landing on the ground picking up the first worm they could find. "You see this?" Timon said. "We haven't had a single piece of grub since they took over."

"They've only been here since last night but we haven't had a chance to eat since." Pumbaa told them.

Timon looked around and the two lions cunningly and said "Fancy lending us a couple of roars to scare them off?" he questioned.

"What?" Tamu said, taken aback. "Can't you find somewhere else to eat?" she questioned.  
"For your information lady this place is the only place that stocks the widest variety of grubs, so no." Timon said, folding his arms.

"Are you serious-" Tamu said but she was cut off as Leo let out a loud roar beside her. Instantly some of the birds flew off and Leo grinned.

"See it's not that hard is it?" Timon questioned. "Much appreciated Leo." Timon said. Leo leapt down the hill roaring again, clearing away some more birds. Timon and Pumbaa ran down after him, scaring some off in the process. Tamu looked away not wanting to take part in it but all it took was one glance for her to realise how much fun the three of them were having. Fun, was something she'd been deprived of these past ten months.

"I can't believe I'm going to do this." she said to herself before letting out a roar. She ran down the hill to join the others and Leo grinned at her. Thanks to her roar half the birds were now gone. Once she caught up to Leo she said "Well don't just stand there." before running off in the other direction, roaring again.

Leo soon joined her and the pair of them combined managed to frighten the remaining birds off. He noticed the growing smile upon her face and found himself smiling too. He can't quite figure out why, but every time he looks at her she brings up feelings in him he's never felt before. He'd never had this much fun with anyone other than Amri.

After all the birds had cleared off Leo and Tamu stood there, laughing. They'd both enjoyed themselves. Timon and Pumbaa approached them, noticing how well they'd worked together.

"Thanks, guess you couldn't resist could you?" Timon said, glancing at Tamu.

"Guess not." she said, still laughing. "Hey Leo I'll race you back to Pride Rock." she said and Leo barely had enough time to process that before she ran off ahead.

"Hey Tamu wait up!" he called after her but Timon stopped him.

"If you ask me Leo that girls for keeps." he said, surprising Leo. "Lionesses don't come better than that."

Leo smiled slightly before saying "She's just a friend." Timon and Pumbaa didn't believe that one bit and even Leo had a voice in his head telling him that wasn't true.

"Well I'll catch you guys later." Leo said before running off after Tamu.

Timon and Pumbaa stared after him. "You know what Pumbaa that kid really reminds me of Simba sometimes." Timon said.

"Well he is his grandson so he's bound to look a little like him." Pumbaa said and Timon groaned.

"I don't mean he reminds me of him because he looks like him, I meant his personality." Timon explained.

"Oh ok." Pumbaa said.

"Come on Pumbaa let's get some grub." Timon said, jumping off the warthog and scouring the place for some much needed food.

* * *

As night begun to fall Tamu and Leo were nearing Pride Rock. They stopped near a small river, panting. They'd been running non-stop for a while now, not heading in the direction of Pride Rock until Leo mentioned they were heading in the opposite direction.

"I'm impressed, you actually managed to catch up to me." Tamu said.

"Yeah well you're not as fast as you think you are." he teased.

"Oh really?" she questioned jumping onto him, knocking him to the ground. They rolled around in the grass until Tamu managed to pin him down. "Well at least I'm a better fighter." she said, getting off of him.

"You haven't seen what I can do." Leo said, getting up. "Come on we should get back before the others start wondering where we are." he told her, slowly walking off in the direction of Pride Rock. Tamu followed him, walking close beside him.

"I still can't believe it you know." Tamu said.

"Believe what?" Leo questioned.

"That your father allowed me to stay at Pride Rock. My father would never have done something like that if it were the other way round." she mentioned. "I wish the prides could live in peace, we don't need to fight over such beautiful land." she said, turning solemn.

"I know I wish that too. We're proof you know, proof that both prides can get along." Leo said. "I just wish my father could see it." they both stopped walking and Tamu looked up at him in admiration. She stepped closer to him and nuzzled him affectionately, surprising him.

"You're right." she said. "We do get along, more than they want us too."

* * *

It wasn't difficult to notice them. A few metres away Kopa sat atop a small hill, watching his son and Tamu. He hadn't expected them to grow so close this soon. He'd come out to ask the great kings for advice when he happened to notice them together.

"What are you going out here at this time of night?" and he turned around to see Vitani making her way towards him.

"I was just asking the great kings for advice. These past few days have been very troubling." he told her. Vitani came over and sat beside him, noticing Leo and Tamu straight away.

"You don't say." she sarcastically. "You know I can see them just as easily as you can." she said, gesturing to Leo and Tamu below.

Kopa sighed and said "I know. What am I going to do Tani? Tamu is still Jua's daughter and therefore, still the enemy."

"Yes, you can look at it that way but Kopa, Tamu isn't Jua. She has good in her that Jua will never have." Vitani said. "Besides Leo seems to trust her, isn't that enough?" she questioned.

Kopa looked up at the stars and said "I wish it was."

* * *

Kopa and Vitani weren't the only ones watching Tamu and Leo. Her mother Safi and brother Shari had made it into the Pride Lands and stumbled across her with Leo. They were hiding in the grass and Safi, couldn't believe what she was seeing. She wondered why her daughter hadn't returned and now she knew why. She could she her daughters affection for the prince and knew that wasn't good.

"No, I don't believe it." Safi gasped. "What is going on?"

"I think it's obvious mother Tamu has fallen for the pridelander prince." Shari said, spitefully.

"No she can't have!" she shouted. "What is she doing?" she asked herself, unsure of what to do with this information.

"Mother it's pretty obvious." Shari said again, but Safi ignored him.

"No..." she whispered, before running off into the distance.

Shari laughed evilly and said "You're in trouble now." before following after his mother

* * *

Amri couldn't move. His eyes were wide with shock as he stared at the pair of them. He'd gone looking for Tamu when he'd come across them. He'd heard everything they'd said and as he watched them together he felt his heart slowly breaking. Why, why did he do it? he knew how much he liked her but instead he decided to go after her himself. Amri slowly backed away, feeling tears form in his eyes. He was utterly heartbroken, his cousin and best friend had the one thing he wanted. As he ran toward Pride Rock he could feel the hate slowly consuming him...

* * *

** Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating r****egularly lately. Schools been really hectic these past few months, it's my last semester so I've been really busy with that and haven't had much time for writing. But It's nearly over so I will be updating more regularly now ! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

As Amri woke up in the den that morning he was less than surprised to see Tamu sleeping soundly beside Leo. He'd overheard everything they'd said to each other last night, the scene still playing over in his mind. He scowled at the sight of them together, feeling the jealousy boiling inside of him. Words could not describe how much he despised Leo for betraying him like that. After last night all he could think about was the pain he'd felt. He'd spent most of the afternoon going over what to say to her. Looking back on it he realised how stupid that was now. It was obvious she never liked him that way, it was always _him._ For now though, he decided to play along and pretend he knew nothing about it. Yes it would be painful in the process but he doesn't care, nothing could compare the overwhelming amount of hate he felt towards Leo now.

* * *

As the sun begun to rise in the land of Jua's pride, Safi and her son Shari arrived back. After what they saw last night, it was important Jua be informed straight away. Jua woke as soon as Safi approached him and he noticed the look of concern spread across her face. Shari wasn't too far behind but he had a more pleased look about him, one that never leaves his face. Jua frowned and stood up immediately.

"Did you find her?" he asked.

"Yes." Safi said, suddenly looking upset. "She's in the pride lands." she told him. Jua's frown deepened as he tried to figure out where she was going with this.

"What? what is she doing there?" he growled, angrily.

"I don't know Jua, I have no idea what's going on it that girl's mind." Safi said. "When we found her-"

"When we found her," Shari interrupted. "She wasn't alone. She was with the Pride Lander prince. Mother's in denial but it was pretty obvious they're more than just friends." he said, looking extremely pleased with himself.

Jua's eyes widened as he took in this news.

"No!" he roared. "You better not be lying to me!" he shouted at Shari.

"Jua he's not. I saw it too." Safi said, still in denial over it all. She can't believe her daughter would do something like that. She knows what's going on with this war and yet she let herself fall for the prince.

"She would betray me like this?" he questioned himself. "After everything I've taught her the fact that she dared to disobey me is a direct insult!" and some of the other lions in the pride begun to stir. "I knew it, that girl was never on our side." he said.

"Jua!" Safi shouted.

"No Safi, can't you see? she was always destined to do this. She never wanted any part in this. That does it, I will take the Pride Lands with or without her and I don't care what I have to do if she gets in my way, her and her precious prince!"

* * *

Back at Pride Rock things were seemingly calm, just another normal day. Amri spent most of the morning alone spying on Leo and Tamu. Every time he saw them together he felt sick, wishing he could erase the previous night from his memory. However, later on he noticed that rogue lion Cheza whisper something to her and that caught his attention. What surprised him more was when she went off with him, following him around the back of Pride Rock. He followed them, making sure he was hidden and out of sight.

"I'm due to report to your father soon and I have a good mind to tell him exactly what you're doing." Cheza said. Amri frowned. They knew each other, more to the point Cheza knew Jua and was working for him? Amri frowned, what was going on here?

"You will, will you?" Tamu scoffed, not believing a word of it.

"Don't think I won't. You've made this a bigger mess than it already was. You shouldn't have lied to them." Cheza said.

"I told you I know what I'm doing." Tamu argued.

"I don't think you do!" he shouted back. Tamu scowled at him. Amri's frown deepened as he tried to make sense of what was going on. "You fed them a lie Tamu. The truth will come out and I'll make sure you have nowhere to run to when it does." he threatened.

Tamu scoffed again and said "You know what you're the son my father always wanted." Cheza flinched. He knew what she was implying. He didn't say anything to her as he set off for Jua's pride.

Amri was speechless. So, Tamu had lied to them, she never left her pride, she's still very much a part of it. But that wasn't all he'd discovered, he'd discovered the rogue lion Cheza's involvement in this too. They'd both lied. They were here working for Jua on the inside. With this revelation Amri left that scene, pondering over what to do with this information.  
As Amri made his way back round to the front of Pride Rock, he didn't notice Leo slowly approaching him. Once he saw he rolled his eyes. Great, he thought, just what I need.

"Hey Amri, you're not busy are you?" Leo asked, not noticing the look of irritation on his cousins face. When Amri didn't answer, Leo seemed oblivious to the mood he was in. "If you're not, fancy coming hunting with me?" he asked.

"Not today." he said, leaving Leo stunned as to why he sounded so harsh. "I'll tell you what, why don't you go ask your girlfriend." he said and Leo could almost taste the bitterness in his tone. He looked at him, stunned. He had not expected that at all.

"What are you talking about?" Leo asked, confused.

"Don't pretend you don't know. I saw the pair of you last night, I heard everything you said!" Amri shouted. He couldn't contain his feelings anymore. The anger inside of him felt like it was about to explode. Leo was shocked and he couldn't say anything. "Why, why did you have to go after the one girl I liked?" he questioned, going right up to him now.

"Amri I never-" Leo tried to explain himself but words were failing him right now.

"You knew how much I liked her and yet you decided to go after her instead. You have everything Leo, you're the prince, a future king and you have a great lioness." Amri argued. "I'm sick of it, sick of you getting everything I want all the time!"

"Amri I'm sorry, I never expected to have these sorts of feelings for her. They just happened and I couldn't do anything about." Leo apologized trying to reason with his short-tempered cousin. But Amri didn't want to listen, he felt so much hate towards him right now.

"Save it." Amri said and with that he walked off leaving Leo in shock. He hadn't seen this coming and he wasn't the only one. Little did they know that their startling conversation had been witnessed by Kovu who was now very concerned about his son's behaviour.

He didn't want to inform Kiara of this until he'd had a word with him personally. She was already on edge with all this as it is and he didn't want to make it worse. He moved off to intercept him and he could literally taste his anger as he approached.

"Amri," he called out, gaining the young lions attention.

"What?" he spat. Kovu frowned at him, stunned at his behaviour.

"Leo didn't deserve that." he said, moving in front of him now. He didn't want him running off before he'd finished talking with him. "Amri, calm down." he advised.

"No I won't calm down dad. You have no idea how I'm feeling right now." he said.

"Yes I do, because I've felt it all before. Amri don't let hate and jealousy consume you." he told him, wanting him to understand how serious he was. "I hate seeing you like this, it isn't you." he said solemnly.

"Well I hate to tell you dad, whether you like it not this is me." Amri said.

"Amri, don't let this ruin you, you have no idea what it could do." Kovu said but Amri was intent on not listening.

"Don't bother trying to make me see reason because it's not going to work." and with that Amri walked off, leaving Kovu extremely worried. He never expected to see this sort of behaviour from Amri. He wouldn't even listen to him and that made Kovu wonder if Rafiki was right after all. He didn't want to admit it but from the way things were looking now it definitely looks like he might be.

* * *

Cheza slowed his pace when coming to the edge of Jua's pride. He'd been travelling most of the day now and he was glad to finally reach his destination. When he entered the pride every eye was on him as he made his way over to Jua. The huge lion stood on top of his usual rock mound with his back to the rest of his pride. However, he didn't need to look around to know that Cheza was standing behind him.

"Finally, I was beginning to think you wouldn't show up." Jua growled.

"I got a little caught up but I think you'll want to hear what I have to say." Cheza informed him. Jua glanced at the young lion behind him before returning his gaze to its former position.

"Go on." Jua said and Cheza didn't hesitate.

"Your daughter Tamu, she's been allowed to stay at Pride Rock for a week. She seems to have fed them some story about defecting from your pride." Cheza told him and Jua was less than surprised to hear this. After finding out about Tamu's betrayal just this morning nothing surprised him anymore. "Her infatuation with prince Leo has put this plan in jeopardy."

"Believe me I know." Jua said, turning around to look at him now. "When the time comes I will deal with Tamu but now there's something else I need to take care of." and Jua moved over to the edge of his rock mound, read to address the lions of his pride.

"What's that?" Cheza asked before Jua could inform his pride.

"Well I've left Kopa and his precious Pride Lands unscathed until now. I'm not going to wait anymore. The time has come to begin our take over on the Pride Lands. Today, we ambush his pride and tell him we're ready to attack." Jua explained.

Cheza frowned and grinned with pleasure.

"Better yet, how about we ambush him." he said at that caught Jua's attention.

"Oh and how do you suppose we do that? he's the king of the Pride Lands, getting him alone isn't going to be easy." Jua said, studying the lion suspiciously.

"I know, luckily enough for us he left Pride Rock this morning. I don't know why or what he's doing but I know he's alone." Cheza informed him with a cunning smile across his face.

"Boy, I beginning to like you." Jua said, leaving Cheza feeling quite pleased with himself. Jua descended into his pride gathering up two of his best fighters and trackers along with Safi and Shari. Once he'd gather them all up Cheza lead the way back into the Pride Lands. However, he did not know that the decision he just made, was going to put Shani in terrible danger as well.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the Pride Lands Kopa and Shani were walking through the grass after a successful hunt. It had been Shani's catch of course, an adult wildebeest. He'd helped single it out for her and she'd ultimately made her first hunt. She was so overjoyed in fact that she hasn't stopped talking about it ever since. Kopa liked her enthusiasm but it was starting to get a bit irritating.

"I can't believe how easy that was." she giggled.

"Well I did tell you with the right help it would be." Kopa said. "You did well Shani." and he smiled over at her.

"Thanks dad. I actually wish I'd asked for your help sooner." she said, looking rather apologetic.

"It's fine Shani I'm just glad I got to spend time with you." he said. All of a sudden he heard rustling around them and stopped. Shani kept walking but when she noticed her father wasn't beside her she stopped and looked at at him confused.

"Father, what's the matter?" Shani asked.

"Shani get back here." he advised. Shani saw the tense look across his face and did what she was told. She became slightly worried as she too heard the rustling all around them.

"My, my it's been too long Kopa." and his eyes widened as he realised who that voice belonged too. As stunned as he was he knew he would have turned up sooner or later. They are at war after all. Jua stepped out of the grass in front of Kopa, with a pleased look on his face. Shani glanced around and saw several other lionesses surround them along with Jua's son Shari. Kopa tensed up and frowned at Jua. "Did you really thing I'd leave your pretty little land alone?" Jua questioned with a small laugh.

"Jua..." Kopa growled and that soon ensured a constant stare off between the two males.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

It was constant silence. The lions from Jua's Pride stood around Kopa and Shani, blocking off all exits. There was no way they were going to be getting out of this one. Jua stepped forward, going right up to Kopa.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment." he growled. "I never thought that orphaned lion would be able to give me such a perfect opportunity." and he glanced behind him. "Well done Cheza." he said to the stunned lion.

Cheza didn't know what to do. He didn't know Shani would be out here with her father. If he had known he would never have lead them to this place. Now he's put Shani in danger, something he swore to himself and to Kopa that he would never do.

"Why don't you come closer boy." Jua said, encouraging him to come closer. He couldn't move, all he could do was stare at a shocked and confused Shani. She didn't understand what was going, but she was about to.

"I should have known." Kopa said, he was less than surprised to discover this. He knew there was something up with him when he saved Shani that day. He never trusted him. "I should have known you'd have something to do with this." but Cheza said nothing. This very moment, his loyalties were being tested.

"Cheza?" Shani questioned, trying to make sense of it all.

"I'm sorry Shani, I didn't know you'd be here." he said, finally speaking. He was about to say something else when Jua stopped him.

"Enough, the rest of you attack!" he roared. Half the lions jumped on Kopa but he managed to shake them off. Shani couldn't do anything but watch as the lions attacked her father. What surprised her though, was why Jua wasn't getting involved in this. All he seemed to be doing was watching too.

"Shani get out of here." Kopa said, gaining her attention. All of a sudden a lioness went to attack him from the back but Cheza ran in front of her and hit her across the face, sending her flying away.

"Stop this!" he begged Jua. Jua glared at the young lion, appalled that after everything he would just betray him like that and all because of the princess.

"How dare you!" Jua yelled. "Are you seriously trying to save the lion responsible for your parents death?" he questioned, shocking Cheza. Whenever it came to his parents he could never think straight.

"He isn't the one responsible for the death of my parents, you are!" Cheza roared, angrily. "I know what you did. Tamu told me everything." he revealed and he wasn't surprised to hear that. Everything Tamu did didn't surprise him anymore. His daughter was a lost cause now. She'd never been on his side and as much as he tried to see things from his point of view, she'd always been too good to be his heir.

"Well, at least you know." he said in a sarcastic tone. "You were so naive when you were young, you would've believed anything. Then again your parents were just as bad." he said, managing to provoke Cheza into attacking him.

However, Jua was too strong for the young lion and he hit him across the face. Cheza fell to the ground and hit it with a large thump. Before Jua approached him, he managed to shout out to Shani.

"Get of here now!" he yelled at her. He had to shout it again before she understood. Luckily enough for her, Kopa had managed to defeat most of the lions attacking him and along with Shani managed to escape. Once Jua noticed Kopa and his daughter had managed to get away, he was furious and he planned to take that out on Cheza.

The lions and lioness of his pride managed to gather themselves up and tried to apologize but Jua didn't want to hear it. Cheza tried to get up again, but Jua knocked him down.

"How could you betray me like that after everything I've done for you? I could have just left you to die in the Savannah but I didn't." he said as Cheza became unconscious. "I guess your betrayal is expected though after all, you are too much like my daughter." he said and after staring down at him for a few seconds Jua ordered the rest of his pride to retreat back home, leaving an unconscious Cheza sprawled amongst the grass.

Now he needed to form a new plan of attack, one that involved exposing Tamu.

* * *

When Vitani looked out into the horizon she didn't expect to see her daughter running back frantically alongside her mate. As they got closer she noticed Kopa was wounded and struggling to keep up. She didn't know what had happened but it definately hadn't been good.

"Zazu, send for Rafiki!" she ordered the hornbill, waking him from his slumber.

"Right away." he said, becoming fully alert. As he flew off Vitani spotted her son and immediately called for him.

"Leo It's your father!" she shouted gain his attention. He ran over, seeing his wounded father and frightened sister. He followed his mother down immediately rushing over to support Kopa.

"Shani what happened?" Vitani asked, giving a sigh of relief to see she was ok.

"Jua." she said, panting heavily. "He attacked us as we were coming back." she explained. Leo helped his father climb back onto Pride Rock as Vitani tried to comfort her daughter. She happened to notice that Cheza wasn't around and wondered why that was. The commotion attracted the rest of the pride including Tamu, who could see Leo standing over Kopa.

It wasn't long until Rafiki arrived and everyone was relieved when he concluded none of Kopa's wounds were life threateningly serious. The sun started to descend over the sky as Kopa managed to regain consciousness. Vitani hadn't been able to get anything out of Shani because she was in shock. When Kopa woke up no one pressured him for answers but he was the one who spoke first.

"Cheza." he said, trying to stand up. "It was him. He was working for Jua all this time. He's the one that lead him and his pride too us. He's a traitor." he explained and everyone there gasped.

Tamu became slightly panicked after hearing that.

Vitani hadn't expected that. Unlike Kopa, she had never been suspicious of him. She'd trusted him completely and now she definately felt betrayed.

"Easy." she said, laying down beside Kopa. "You need to rest." she said, nuzzling him comfortingly. She turned to Leo and said "Go and check on your sister." Leo did as he was told, after all after what had happened he wasn't in a position to argue otherwise.

* * *

Vitani hadn't left Kopa's side all night and when she woke in the morning she was less than surprised to see him up and about. However as she focused she could see him standing on top of the throne, looking very angry. She stopped up wet over to stand beside him.

"Kopa what's wrong?" she asked, looking out into this distance. He didn't need to answer because it didn't take her long to spot it, or spot him.

"What does he think he's doing by coming back here?" he questioned. "He shouldn't even have the nerve to step foot back in the Pride lands." he growled.

"Well I'm glad to see your alright." she said sarcastically but Kopa ignored her, moving off to the top of the Pride Rock entrance. Vitani hesitantly followed him, she knew what was about to happen wasn't going to be good. But if she was in Kopa's position she'd do exactly the same thing. Only thing that worried her was her daughter. She knew how close they were and what Kopa's about to do might damage her, might damage both of them.

* * *

As Cheza approached Pride Rock, he knew what he was in for. As much as he didn't want to admit it he knew what was going to happen. He just wanted a chance to explain himself to Kopa and to Shani. It was never his intention to hurt her and he never wanted to hurt her like this. He realises it's too late to tell her now but if he gets the chance he'd like to tell her how he really feels about her. He knows Kopa won't be able to forgive him, these kind of betrayals cut deep, but Shani's different, maybe she'll listen to him.

As he placed his front paw on the entrance to Pride Rock he heard a furious roar and looked up to see Kopa, standing before him, looking angry and unforgiving. He didn't blame him. He swallowed before carefully approaching the king.


End file.
